He bowed gracefully, as if for applause. "Come, Mr. Gramp," said Alan diplomatically, "let us get to business. What do you know about this matter?" "About the hundred pounds?" asked the man with an appearance of great simplicity. "I'll pay you that, more or less, when I know what your information is worth." "More or less won't do, Mr. Thorold. I want, from Miss Marlow or from you, one hundred pounds." "I know, and two hundred from Mrs. Warrender." "Ah!"--Cicero did not move a muscle--"she has told you that I can give you information about the body of her husband?" "Yes, and she has come to town to see you. However, I have intercepted her, and she is waiting to see you in a place I know of. You must come with me, Mr. Gramp." But Cicero shook his head uneasily. "An Englishman's house is his castle," he said. "This is my house, my keep, my donjon. _Quod erat demonstrandum!_" "Oh, confound your dictionary Latin!" cried Alan impatiently. "You are afraid of the police?" "Far from it, Mr. Thorold. I have nothing to fear from them. For one hundred pounds I lay bare my heart." "I'll give you fifty pounds on condition you tell me all you know. From Mrs. Warrender you won't receive a penny." "Then she shall never know where lies the body of her late lamented partner." "She knows that already," said Alan coolly. "Ha!"--Cicero gave a dramatic start--"you seek to deceive me!" "Indeed, I do nothing of the sort; I found the body myself." "Where, may I ask?" said Gramp, his thoughts going back to the hut on the heath. "In the Marlow vault, in the coffin of the dead man who was carried away." Cicero's jaw fell. He was truly surprised. "How the devil did it get there from the hut?" he said. "The hut--what hut?" "I want my money before I tell you that, Mr. Thorold." Alan took five ten-pound notes out of his pocket. "Here is fifty pounds," he said; "it will be yours if you tell me all you know, and come with me to see Mrs. Warrender." "Aha!" Cicero's eyes glittered, and his fingers longed to clutch the money. Such wealth had not been his for many a long day. "And the police?" "I thought you did not fear them?" was the reply. "I don't, for I have done nothing to put myself in the power of the law. But I am afraid, as this body has been found, that you will have me arrested, and so I shall lose the money." "If you are innocent of the murder and the sacrilege, you won't be arrested, Gramp. And the money I will give you after we have seen Mrs. Warrender." "On your word of honor as a gentleman?" "Yes, on my word of honor. If you can throw light on this mystery, and bring home these crimes to the person who has committed them, I am quite willing to pay you." "I don't know about bringing home the crimes, Mr. Thorold," said Cicero, rising, "but I will tell you all I know in the presence of Mrs. Warrender. Permit me to assume my visiting garb. Where is the lady?" "At the Norfolk Hotel."