"Mr. Pawle," he said at last, "I'm immensely surprised by what you've told me, and all the more so because this is the second surprise I've had this afternoon. I may as well tell you that the two gentlemen whom you saw going away just now brought me some very astonishing news--yours comes right on top of it! And, if you please, I'd rather not say any more about it, just now, but I'm going to make a proposal to you. Will you--and Mr. Viner, if he'll be so good--meet me tomorrow morning, say at noon, at my solicitors' offices?" "With pleasure!" responded Mr. Pawle. "Your lordship's solicitors are--" "Carless and Driver, Lincoln's Inn Fields," answered Lord Ellingham. "Friends of ours," said Mr. Pawle. "We will meet your lordship there at twelve o 'clock to the minute." "And--you'll bring that with you?" suggested Lord Ellingham, pointing to the packet of letters which Mr. Pawle held in his hand. "Just so, my lord," assented Mr. Pawle. "And we'll be ready to tell all we know--for there are further details." Outside the house the old lawyer gripped Viner's elbow. "That boy knows something!" he said with a meaning smile. "He's astute enough for his age--smart youngster! But--what does he know? Those two men have told him something. Viner, we must find out who that clean-shaven man is. I have some idea that I have seen him before--I shouldn't be at all surprised if he's a solicitor, may have seen him in some court or other. But in that case I wonder he didn't recognize me." "He didn't look at you," replied Viner. "He and the other man were too much absorbed in whatever it was they were talking about. I have been wondering since I first saw him at the tavern," he continued, "if I ought not to tell the police what I know about him--I mean, that he was certainly in Ashton's company on the evening of the murder. What do you think?" "I think not, at present," replied Mr. Pawle. "It seems evident--unless, indeed, it was all a piece of bluff, and it may have been--that this man is, or was when you saw him, just as ignorant as the landlord of that place was that the man who used to drop in there and Ashton were one and the same person. No, let the police go on their own lines--we're on others. We shall hear of this man again, whoever he is. Now I must get back to my office--come there at half-past eleven tomorrow morning, Viner, and we'll go on to Carless and Driver's." Viner went thoughtfully homeward, ruminating over the events of the day, and entered his house to find his two guests, the sisters of the unlucky Hyde, in floods of tears, and Miss Penkridge looking unusually grave. The elder Miss Hyde sprang up at sight of him and held a tear-soaked handkerchief towards him in pantomimic appeal. "Oh, Mr. Viner," she exclaimed, "you are so kind, and so clever. I'm sure you'll see a way out of this! It looks, oh, so very black, and so very much against him; but oh, dear Mr. Viner, there must be some explanation!"