“Not long, I think. We have a very promising start. If I have any luck, I shall be able to collect all the evidence I want in about a week. But there is an element of chance in some of it which prevents me from giving a date. And it is just possible that I may have started on a false track. But that I shall be able to tell you better in a day or two.”

“And I suppose,” I said gloomily, “I shall be out of the hunt altogether?”

“Not at all,” he replied. “You have got the Blackmore case to attend to. I shall hand you over all the documents and get you to make an orderly digest of the evidence. You will then have all the facts and can work out the case for yourself. Also I shall ask you to help Polton in some little operations which are designed to throw light into dark places and which you will find both entertaining and instructive.”

“Supposing Mrs. Hornby should propose to call and take tea with us in the gardens?” I suggested.