"Very well!" he said at last. "Tell him--I shall trust you both. Remember--it's between the three of us. I shan't say a word to Pawle, nor to Carless. You know there's a man's life at stake--Hyde's! Hyde is as innocent as I am--he's an old schoolfellow of mine." "I understand," said Methley. "Very well, trust to me, Mr. Viner." He went off with a reassuring nod, and Viner returned to Mr. Carless' room. The three men he had left there were deep in conversation, and as he entered, Mr. Carless smote his hand on the desk before him. "This is certain!" he exclaimed. "We must have this Miss Avice Wickham here--at once!" CHAPTER XIX UNDER EXAMINATION Mr. Pawle nodded assent to this proposition and rose from his chair. "It's the only thing to do," he said. "We must get to the bottom of this as quickly as possible--whether Miss Wickham can tell us much or little, we must know what she can tell. Let us all meet here again at three o'clock--I will send one of my clerks to fetch her. But let us be clear on one point--are we to tell this young lady what our conclusions are, regarding herself?" "Your conclusions!" said Mr. Carless, with a sly smile. "We know nothing yet, you know, Pawle." "My conclusions, then," assented Mr. Pawle. "Are we--" Lord Ellingham quietly interrupted the old lawyer. "Pardon me, Mr. Pawle," he said, "but before we go any further, do you mind telling me, briefly, what your conclusions really are!" "I will tell your lordship in a few words," answered Mr. Pawle, readily. "Wrong or right, my conclusions are these: From certain investigations which Mr. Viner and I have made since this affair began--with the murder of Ashton--and from certain evidence which we have unearthed, I believe that Ashton's friend Wickham, the father of the girl we are going to produce this afternoon, was in reality your lordship's uncle, the missing Lord Marketstoke. I believe that Ashton came to England in order to prove this, and that he was probably about to begin proceedings when he was murdered--for the sake of those papers which we have just seen. And I believe, too, that we have not seen all the papers which were stolen from his dead body. What was produced to us just now by Methley and Woodlesford was a selection--the probability is that there are other and more important papers in the hands of the murderer, whose cat's-paw or accomplice this claimant, whoever he may be, is. I believe," concluded Mr. Pawle, with emphasis, "that my conclusions will be found to be correct ones, based on indisputable fact." Lord Ellingham looked from one solicitor to the other. "Then," he said, with something of a smile, "if Wickham was really my uncle, Lord Marketstoke, and this young lady you tell me of is his daughter--what, definitely, is my position?" Mr. Pawle looked at Mr. Carless, and Mr. Carless shook his head.