In one of the rooms at the police-station, Neale anxiously watched Polke and Starmidge examine the dead man's clothing and personal effects. The detective rapidly laid aside certain articles of the sort which he evidently expected to find--a purse, a cigar-case; the usual small things found in a well-to-do man's pockets; a watch and chain; a ring or two. He gave no particular attention to any of these beyond ascertaining that there was a good deal of loose money in the purse--some twelve or fifteen pounds in gold--and pointing out that the watch had stopped at ten minutes to eight. "That shows the time of the accident," he remarked. "Are you sure?" suggested Polke doubtfully. "It may merely mean that the watch ran itself out then." Starmidge picked up the watch--a stem winder--and examined it. "No," he said, "it's broken--by the fall. See there!--the spring's snapped. Ten minutes to eight, Saturday night, Mr. Polke--that's when this affair happened. Now then, this is what I want!" From an inner pocket of the dead man's smart morning-coat, he drew a morocco-leather letter-case, and carefully extracted the papers from it. With Neale looking on at one side, and Polke at the other, Starmidge examined every separate paper. Nothing that he found bore any reference to Scarnham. There were one or two bills--from booksellers--made out to Frederick Hollis, Esquire. There was a folded playbill which showed that Mr. Hollis had recently been to a theatre, and--because of some pencilled notes on its margins--had taken an unusual interest in what he saw there. There were two or three letters from correspondents who evidently shared with Mr. Hollis a taste for collecting old books and engravings. There were some cuttings from newspapers: they, too, related to collecting. And Neale suddenly got an idea. "I say!" he exclaimed. "Mr. Horbury was a bit of a collector of that sort of thing, as you probably saw from his house. This man may have run down to see him about some affair of that sort." But at that moment Starmidge unfolded a slip of paper which he had drawn from an inner pocket of the letter-case. He gave one glance at it, and laid it flat on the table before his companions. "No!" he said. "That's probably what brought Hollis down to Scarnham! A cheque for ten thousand pounds! And--incomplete!" The three men bent wonderingly over the bit of pink paper. Neale's quick eyes took in its contents at a glance. LONDON: _May 12th, 1912_. VANDERKISTE, MULLINEAU & COMPANY, 563 LOMBARD STREET, E.C. Pay .............................. or Order the sum of Ten Thousand Pounds £10,000.00. ................... "That's extraordinary!" exclaimed Neale. "Date and amount filled in--and the names of payee and drawer omitted! What does it mean?"