"No!" said Herrick, and thought that this was just the sum Robin said he had been left by his mother's will. "Yes! Why, I do not know. Nor could Frith tell me. The Colonel never called to see Mrs. Joyce; he never wrote her a letter. But he directed Frith to pay her an annuity of five hundred pounds." "An annuity? Then it ceased at her death?" "Of course. The son gets nothing. The reason Frith mentioned it, was that he wished to know if I had found anything amongst my uncle's papers likely to show why the annuity had been paid, and whether it ought to be continued to the son." "Queer!" said Herrick. He remembered that Robin had told him that he had interviewed the lawyers and had been informed of his income. Why had Robin told a lie? "I suppose," said the doctor after a pause, "that Frith did not take it upon himself to promise Joyce the continuance of this annuity?" "Certainly not," replied Stephen, "he had no right. Of course I told him that I knew nothing about the matter and would not pay anything to Joyce. Still--as he is your friend?--" "Never mind that. I don't want you to pay him anything. Did Joyce call to see Frith do you know?" "A week after his mother's death. He has not been since. They told him then that he need not expect any more money." "A week after his mother's death," related the doctor "and it was two months later we were on that walking tour! Did not Joyce call to see Frith somewhere about the twenty-fourth of July?" "No! It was towards the end of April he called. He has not been near them since. You look rather pale, Herrick." "It's nothing," replied the doctor. "I have had rather a turn, that's all." CHAPTER IX HERRICK IS SUSPICIOUS Dr. Jim slept very little that night. He was turning over in his mind Joyce's strange conduct. Now that he remembered, Robin had been very particular as to the details of his whereabouts. He had gone to Town on a Tuesday leaving Herrick at the Southberry Railway Inn. According to his story he had seen Frith and Frith the same afternoon, and again the next morning. The intervening night he had slept at the Hull Hotel in a side Street off the Strand. Then on Wednesday afternoon, he had rejoined Dr. Jim at Southberry and on Thursday morning had started to cross the Heath. It was on that same night, that the two had discovered the body of Colonel Carr. So far Herrick had believed this story.