No; if they were shielding a third person, it must be the mysterious, unknown woman who had come with such swift secrecy and so wholly disappeared.
It grew clearer and clearer that there most probably lay that solution of the problem.

If that woman herself had not murdered Lord Loudwater, as seemed most likely, she might very well give him the clue for which he was groping.

He must find her, and, of course, sooner or later he would find her.

But the sooner he found her, the sooner would the problem be solved and his work done.

Till he found her he would not find its solution.
It still seemed to him probable that somewhere among Lord Loudwater's papers there was information which would lead to her discovery, and he went into the library to confer again with Mr.Carrington on the matter.
He found him discussing the arrangements for tomorrow's funeral with Mrs.
Carruthers and Wilkins.
When they had gone he said: "Did you come across any information about that mysterious woman in the rest of the papers ?" "Not a word," said Mr.Carrington.
"I've been thinking that you might come across traces of her in his pass-books--payments or an allowance." "I thought of that.