Before Stoner could reply Mr. Pursey entered the arena. His face displayed the pleased expression of the man who has special information. "It's an odd thing, now, David," he said in a high, piping voice, "a very odd thing, that this should happen when I come up into these parts--almost as foreign to me as the Fiji Islands might be. Yes, sir," he went on, turning to Stoner, "it's very odd! I knew that man Kitely." Stoner could have jumped from his seat, but he restrained himself, and contrived to show no more than a polite interest. "Oh, indeed, sir?" he said. "The poor man that was murdered? You knew him?" "I remember him very well indeed," assented Mr. Pursey. "Yes, although I only met him once, I've a very complete recollection of the man. I spent a very pleasant evening with him and one or two more of his profession--better sort of police and detectives, you know--at a friend's of mine, who was one of our Wilchester police officials--oh, it's--yes--it must be thirty years since. They'd come from London, of course, on some criminal business. Deary me!--the tales them fellows could tell!" "Thirty years is a long time, sir," observed Stoner politely. "Aye, but I remember it quite well," said Mr. Pursey, with a confident nod. "I know it was thirty years ago, 'cause it was the Wilchester Assizes at which the Mallows & Chidforth case was tried. Yes--thirty years. Eighteen hundred and eighty-one was the year. Mallows & Chidforth--aye!" "Famous case that, sir?" asked Stoner. He was almost bursting with excitement by that time, and he took a big gulp of whisky and water to calm himself. "Something special, sir? Murder, eh?" "No--fraud, embezzlement, defalcation--I forget what the proper legal term 'ud be," replied Mr. Pursey. "But it was a bad case--a real bad 'un. We'd a working men's building society in Wilchester in those days--it's there now for that matter, but under another name--and there were two better-class young workmen, smart fellows, that acted one as secretary and t'other as treasurer to it. They'd full control, those two had, and they were trusted, aye, as if they'd been the Bank of England! And all of a sudden, something came out, and it was found that these two, Mallows, treasurer, Chidforth, secretary, had made away with two thousand pounds of the society's money. Two thousand pounds!" "Two thousand pounds?" exclaimed Stoner, whose thoughts went like lightning to the half-sheet of foolscap. "You don't say!" "Yes--well, it might ha' been a pound or two more or less," said the old man, "but two thousand was what they called it. And of course Mallows and Chidforth were prosecuted--and they got two years. Oh, yes, we remember that case very well indeed in Wilchester, don't we, Maria?" "And good reason!" agreed Mrs. Pursey warmly. "There were a lot of poor people nearly ruined by them bad young men."