Page:Fletcher - The Mortover Grange Affair.pdf/311

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THE CLAGNE BIRTHMARK
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done?" he asked. "Something's happened to all three of them, of course!"

"Doesn't the girl at the Grange know where Levigne and Mrs. Clagne were going?" asked the Superintendent. "Hasn't she any idea?"

"Not a notion! But I have!" replied Wedgwood. "From what she says, Levigne and Mrs. Clagne had been squabbling or quarrelling all the afternoon, evidently about business matters. She—this girl—saw papers. She says they seemed to come to some agreement about tea-time, and went out. My belief is that they went somewhere to get somebody to witness signatures—there are houses in the neighbourhood. Then they got caught in the storm, returning. They may be snow-bound—it's waist-high round Mortover Grange."

The Superintendent turned, looking back in the direction of his car.

"If they'd been merely snow-bound in some house hereabouts they'd have contrived to let that girl know," he said. "No—there's been some accident—in both cases. The only thing is search. There's a roadside inn down yonder—the Coach and Four. We'd better get back there, and see about getting some of the men of the neighbourhood to look round and enquire—they'll know their way about better than we shall. We shall find plenty of them, too, down