Page:Fletcher - The Mortover Grange Affair.pdf/54

 "Didn't just mention that he'd met John?"

"He never mentioned John! And he didn't mention him next morning either—even when he'd read the paper," said Stainsby, significantly. 'And he couldn't ha' missed seeing that in the paper! There it was, in big, bold letters—I saw it!"

"You saw him with the paper next morning?"

"He was reading the paper—that page, too!—when I came down. Of course, I didn't see the paper until later, but when I did see it, I remembered which page he was reading when I saw him with it. He couldn't have missed seeing that!—about his brother."

"Well?—what happened?" asked Wedgwood.

"He kept the paper by him while we had breakfast. As soon as that was over he said he'd got to go out at once on business—legal business, he said—and shouldn't be back until afternoon. He gave me some orders and went away, and he didn't come back till past one o'clock. He'd a lot of papers and things of that sort with him—he was busy with them late that night. Burned a lot of 'em in the parlour grate."

"Did he mention his brother's death to you?"

"Not then. He did next morning—said a word or two to me and the housekeeper about it, when we were having breakfast."