"One thing particularly at first," answered Starmidge. "And we can all work at it. Never mind these secret passages and dark corners and holes in the panels!—at present: we may have a look at these later on. What I do want to find out is—if there's any letter amongst Mr. Horbury's papers making an appointment with him last Saturday evening. To put matters briefly—I want some light on that man who came to the Station Hotel on Saturday, and who presumably came to meet Mr. Horbury."
"I see," said Polke. "Good! Then—first?"
"Here's his desk—and its drawers," suggested Starmidge. "Now, let us all four take a drawer each and see if we can find any such letter. I'm going on the presumption that this stranger came down to see Mr. Horbury, and that on his arrival he telephoned up to let him know he'd got here. If that presumption is correct, then, in all probability, there'd been previous correspondence between them as to the man's visit."
"If that man came to see Mr. Horbury," remarked the solicitor, "why didn't he come straight here to the bank-house?"
"That's just where the mystery lies, sir," replied Starmidge. "All the mystery of the affair lies in that man's coming at all! Let me find out who that man was, and what he came for, and if he and Mr. Horbury met, and where they went when they did meet and I'll soon tell you—what would probably make your hair stand on end!" he muttered to himself, as he pulled a drawer out of the desk and placed
