"I'll tell you," replied Fosdick. "My friend Stephens, here, is a man of few words; he credits me with more talkativeness than he'll lay claim to. So I'm to tell the tale. There mayn't be much in it, and there may be a lot. We think there's a big lot! But this is what it comes to: Ashton was a close man, a reserved man. However, one night, when the three of us were having a quiet cigar in a corner of the smoking saloon in the _Maraquibo_, he opened out to us a bit. We'd been talking about getting over to England--we'd all three emigrated, you'll understand, when we were very young--and the talk ran on what we'd do. Fosdick and Stephens, d'ye see, were only on a visit,--which is just coming to an end, Mr. Pawle; we sail home in a day or two,--but Ashton was turning home for good. And he said to us, in a sort of burst of confidence, that he'd have plenty to do when he landed. He said that he was in possession--sole possession--of a most extraordinary secret, the revelation of which would affect one of the first families in England, and he was going to bring it out as soon as he'd got settled down in London. Well--you may be surprised, but--that's all." "All you can tell?" exclaimed Mr. Pawle. "All! But we can see plenty in it," said Fosdick. "Our notion is that Ashton was murdered by somebody who didn't want that secret to come out. Now, you see if events don't prove we're right." "Gentlemen," said Mr. Pawle, "allow me to ask you a few questions." "Many as you please, sir," assented Fosdick. "We'll answer anything." "He didn't tell you what the secret was?" asked Mr. Pawle. "No. He said we'd know more about it in time," replied Fosdick. "It would possibly lead to legal proceedings, he said--in that case, it would be one of the most celebrated cases ever known." "And romantic," added Stephens, speaking for the first time. "Romantic! That was the term he used." "And romantic--quite so," assented Fosdick. "Celebrated and romantic--those were the words. But in any case, he said, whether it got to law matters or not, it couldn't fail to be in the papers, and we should read all about it in due time." "And you know no more than that?" inquired Mr. Pawle. "Nothing!" said Fosdick with decision. Mr. Pawle looked at Viner as if to seek some inspiration. And Viner took up the work of examination. "Do you know anything of Mr. Ashton's movements since he came to London?" he asked. "Next to nothing," replied Fosdick. "Ashton left the _Maraquibo_ at Naples, and came overland--he wanted to put in a day or two in Rome and a day or two in Paris. We came round by sea to Tilbury. Then Stephens and I separated--he went to see his people in Scotland, and I went to mine in Lancashire. We met--Stephens and I--in London here last week. And we saw Ashton for just a few minutes, down in the City." "Ah!" exclaimed Mr. Pawle. "You have seen him, then! Did anything happen?"