"Then, my dear sir, by all means let us pay our respects to her!" said Mr. Pawle. "A tribute!" "By all means!" exclaimed Mr. Carless. "A just tribute--richly deserved!" "I should like to add my small quota," said Lord Ellingham. Viner led the way into his house and to the drawing-room. Miss Penkridge, in her best cap, was calmly dispensing tea to the two Hyde sisters, who were regarding her with obvious admiration. She looked round on her nephew and the flood of callers as if to ask what most of them were doing there. And Viner, knowing Miss Penkridge's peculiar humour, rose to the occasion. "My dear aunt," he said in a hushed voice, "these gentlemen, having heard of your extraordinary achievement this afternoon, have come to lay at your feet their united tribute of--" Miss Penkridge shot a warning glance through her steel-rimmed spectacles. "Don't talk nonsense, Richard!" she exclaimed sharply. "Ring the bell for more cups and saucers!" CHAPTER XXIX WHO IS TO TELL HER? But Viner, instead of ordering the teacups, whispered a word or two to Miss Penkridge, and then beckoned Lord Ellingham and the two solicitors to follow him out of the room. He silently led them to his study and closed the door. "Miss Wickham will be all right for a while under my aunt's care," he said, with a smile that had a certain meaning in it which was not lost on Mr. Pawle or on Mr. Carless, "but there are matters connected with her which ought not to wait, even for ten minutes hanging round Miss Penkridge's tea-table. Now, I have been thrown headlong into this case, and like all the rest of you, I am pretty well acquainted with it. And I take it that now that the murder of Ashton has been solved, the real question is--what is the truth about the young lady who was certainly his ward?" "That is right!" exclaimed Mr. Pawle. "Carless--and Lord Ellingham--I am sure, agree with me." "Absolutely--as far as I'm concerned," asserted Mr. Carless. "His Lordship will speak for himself." Lord Ellingham answered Viner's smile with one equally frank. "I don't know whether I'm Lord Ellingham or not!" he said. "I have had considerable doubt on that point ever since our conference the other day. But I will say this, gentlemen: I had some conversation with Miss Wickham the other day, after we left your office, Mr. Carless, when she was kind enough to allow me to escort her home, and--well, to be frank, gentlemen, whether she is my cousin or not, I--to me an old-fashioned phrase--desire her better acquaintance! And if she is my cousin, why, then--the title is not mine but hers!" The two lawyers exchanged significant glances. "Admirably spoken, My Lord!" said Mr. Pawle. "Excellent!" "It is just what I would have expected of his Lordship," remarked Mr. Carless. "I have known His Lordship since he was first breeched! But I believe Mr. Viner has something to say?"