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302 happened. We see it all plainly enough now, but we thought at that time we had the assurance of the railway company."

"There shouldn't be any thinking in a matter of that kind. They should have set it down in black and white."

Again Peter mopped his brow. He was evidently finding this explanation harder than he had expected it to be. For a minute or two there was silence, then Lord Stranleigh said:

"Go on, Peter. Never mind me. I am acting the brute. Remember I have promised to help you out, and therefore show some patience with me, because I'm just beginning to learn how deep and bottomless the hole is. How did you come in on this deal?"

"As I have told you, Sir Phillip Sanderson's land and mine adjoin, and he proposed to place part of the village, when it was built, on my property, to give me the chance of benefiting by his enterprise. I told him I would have nothing to do with the railway, and I kept to that resolution until very lately. At the end of last year, an exceedingly alert business man, armed with the best of credentials, came down to see Sir Phillip Sanderson. He arrived from London, and among his documents was one acknowledging him a secret agent for the Great Southern Railway."

"Did you take any pains to find out whether these credentials were bogus or not?"