“Well, sir,” said the stationmaster, “we made inquiries all down the line, and had several men out searching, but they never found it. They would have brought it to me if they had, for they were all decent fellows and Mr. Lathom offered a reward. I’m afraid some tramp must have picked it up, sir. There’s a lot of them about these days and they’re not over-honest.”
“No doubt that was it,” said I. “Let me see—whereabouts did he say he lost it?”
“Said he thought it must have fallen out of his breast-pocket when he was leaning out of the window. He couldn’t say exactly where, but he thought it must be just the other side of Heathfield. Here’s the note I made in my book, you see, sir, and here’s the gentleman’s name and address that he wrote down himself.”
I recognised the handwriting in which Lathom had written out Munting’s address for me.
“Well, it was very tiresome,” I said, “but I am sure you did all you could. There was money in the pocketbook, I suppose?”
“Yes, sir, and the gentleman’s ticket to town. He was in quite a way about it, because he said he hadn’t enough money on him to book again. So