"Yes," said Mrs. Killenhall, "I have! It was one night when Miss Wickham was out--you were at Mrs. Murray-Sinclair's, my dear--and Mr. Ashton and I dined alone. He asked me if I remembered the famous Ellingham case, some years ago--something about the succession to the title--he said he'd read it in the Colonial papers. Of course, I remembered it very well." "Well, ma'am," said Mr. Pawle, "and what then?" "I think that was all," answered Mrs. Killenhall. "He merely remarked that it was an odd case, and said no more." "What made him mention it?" asked Mr. Pawle. "Oh, we'd been talking about romances of the peerage," replied Mrs. Killenhall. "I had told him of several." "You're well up in the peerage, ma'am?" suggested the old lawyer. "I know my Burke and my Debrett pretty thoroughly," said Mrs. Killenhall. "Very interesting, of course." Mr. Pawle, who was sitting close to Miss Wickham, suddenly pointed to a gold locket which she wore. "Where did you get that, my dear?" he asked. "Unusual device, isn't it?" "Mr. Ashton gave it to me, a few weeks ago," answered Miss Wickham. "He said it had belonged to my father." The old lawyer bent nearer, looked more closely at the locket, and got up. "Elegant old thing!" he said. "Not made yesterday, that! Well, ladies, you will see me, for this very sad occasion"--he waved a hand at the wreath of flowers--"tomorrow. In the meantime, if there is anything you want done, our young friend here is close at hand. Just now, however, I want him." "Viner," observed Pawle when they had left the house, "it's very odd how unobservant some people are! Now, there's that woman we've just left, Mrs. Killenhall, who says that she's well up in her Debrett, and her Burke,--and there, seen by her many a time, is that locket which Miss Wickham is wearing, and she's never noticed it! Never, I mean, noticed what's on it. Why, I saw it--and its significance--instantly, just now, which was the first time I'd seen it!" "What is it that's on it?" asked Viner. "After we came back from Marketstoke," replied Mr. Pawle, "I looked up the Cave-Gray family and their peerage. That locket bears their device and motto. The device is a closed fist, grasping a handful of blades of wheat; the motto is _Have and Hold_. Viner, as sure as fate, that girl's father was the missing Lord Marketstoke, and Ashton knew the secret! I'm convinced of it--I'm positive of it. And now see the extraordinary position in which we're all placed. Ashton's dead, and there isn't one scrap of paper to show what it was that he really knew. Nothing--not one written line!" "Because, as I said before, he was murdered for his papers," affirmed Viner. "I'm sure of that as you are of the rest."