On this they gave him a shilling and left him. But on leaving the yard Edward said: “Doctor, I don't like that fellow's looks: let us try the landlord.” They went into the bar and made similar inquiries. The landlord was out, the mistress knew nothing about it, but took a book out of a drawer, and turned over the leaves. She read out an entry to this effect-- “Pair horse fly to Silverton: take up in Mill Street at eight o'clock. Is that it, sir?” Sampson assented; but Edward told her the ostler said it was Silverton station. “No: it is Silverton in the book, sir. Well, you see it is all one to us; the station is further than the town, but we charge seven miles whichever 'tis.” Bradshaw, inspected then and there, sought in vain to conceal that four trains reach Silverton from different points between 8.50 and 9.25 A. M. The friends retired with this scanty information. Alfred could hardly have gone to London; for there was a train up from Barkington itself at 8.30. But he might have gone to almost any other part of the island, or out of it for that matter. Sampson fell into a brown study. After a long silence, which Edward was too sad to break, he said thoughtfully: “Bring sceince to bear on this hotch-potch. Facks are never really opposed to facks; they onnly seem to be: and the true solution is the one which riconciles all the facks: for instance, the chronothairmal Therey riconciles all th' undisputed facks in midicine. So now sairch for a solution to riconcile the Deed with the puppy levanting.” Edward searched, but could find none; and said so. “Can't you?” said Sampson; “then I'll give you a couple. Say he is touched in the upper story for one.” “What do you mean? Mad?” “Oh: there are degrees of Phrinzy. Here is th' inconsistency of conduct that marks a disturbance of the reason: and, to tell the truth, I once knew a young fellow that played this very prank at a wedding, and the nixt thing we hard, my lorrd was in Bedlam.” Edward shook his head: “It is the villain's heart, not his brain.” Sampson then offered another solution, in which he owned he had more confidence-- “He has been courting some other wumman first: she declined, or made believe; but, when she found he had the spirit to go and marry an innocent girl, then the jade wrote to him and yielded. It's a married one, likely. I've known women go further for hatred of a wumman than they would for love of a man and here was a temptation! to snap a lover off th' altar, and insult a rival, all at one blow. He meant to marry: he meant to sign that deed: ay and at his age, even if he had signed it, he would have gone off at passion's call, and beggared himself. What enrages me is that we didn't let him sign it, and so nail the young rascal's money.” “Curse his money,” said Edward, “and him too. Wait till I can lay my hand on him: I'll break every bone in his skin.” “And I'll help you.”