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 answered. "As I remarked previous, nobody ever came to see him. And he never went out o' nights, nor of a Sunday, 'cepting for a bit of a walk before his dinner. He was a retiring gentleman."

Wedgwood pursued his enquiries no further that evening. But next morning he went to the British Museum and had no difficulty in finding officials and attendants who knew John Wraypoole well enough.

"Wraypoole," said one of them, "has attended here for quite twenty years, regularly. He was an expert in pedigrees, though he didn't confine his attention entirely to that. He was a good all-round antiquary and I should say very well acquainted with the local history of his own county."

"What county's that?" asked Wedgwood.

"Derbyshire," replied the librarian. "I have discussed Derbyshire with him at times. He had a surprising knowledge of out-of-the-way information. Lately he has been investigating certain matters relative to Derbyshire, but I don't know their exact nature. What I do know is that of late he has had a lot of rare books, pamphlets, and so on, dug out for him, all of them dealing with Derbyshire."

"Do you know if he was writing anything?" enquired Wedgwood.