Page:Fletcher - The Mortover Grange Affair.pdf/37



Wedgwood, fingering his chin as if in deep reflection, slowly repeated the word which Miss Tandy had just pronounced.

"Mortover," he murmured. "Mortover, eh? As you remark, ma'am, an uncommon name that. Does it convey anything to you, now?"

"Nothing!" declared Miss Tandy. "Nothing at all!—never heard it before. But there it was, printed in big letters—his handwriting—on the back of the manuscript, which he'd laid down on my table. I glanced at the manuscript as we were talking about my doing it for him, and saw that word—as a matter of fact, it was the only word on it. At first I thought it was Mortgage—something legal, you know. Then I saw it was Mortover, M-o-r-t-o-v-e-r—Mortover. But whether it's the name of a place, or a person, of course I don't know."

"He said nothing about it?" suggested Wedgwood.

"Not a word!" replied Miss Tandy. "All he was anxious about, and all he spoke of, was having the thing done by three o'clock this