Page:Fletcher - The Mortover Grange Affair.pdf/208

 "Um!" mused Wedgwood. "The housekeeper, now—did she seem surprised?"

"She said she was—but I'd an idea that she wasn't," replied Stainsby. "Took it quietly enough, anyway."

"Is she staying there?" enquired Wedgwood.

"Gregson asked her to stay and look after the place a bit till he could make arrangements for bringing his wife there," answered the apprentice. "She said she would."

"And you?" asked Wedgwood.

"I don't know what my position is," replied Stainsby. "I was bound to Thomas Wraypoole—apprenticed, of course. I don't think he could hand me over with the business. Gregson wants me to stop. But I don't know about it."

"Stop there a bit, anyway," said Wedgwood. "You may find something out. About Wraypoole, now—did Gregson say anything as to where Wraypoole had gone?"

"I asked him that. He said he believed Wraypoole was going to take up a foreign agency somewhere. That's all he knew."

"Did the housekeeper ask Gregson anything of that sort?"

"She didn't—that's one of the reasons I had for thinking she wasn't really surprised. I think she knew Wraypoole was going away: I think she probably knows where he is."