"My impression is that they'll find little out from the servants.

And while that's afoot, I'd like to have that promised story of yours, Mr.Elphinstone--I only got an idea of it, you know, when you and Murray came to my house.

And these two would like to hear it--one of them, at any rate, is more interested in this affair than you'd think or than he knew of himself until recently." Now that we were in a properly lighted room, I took a more careful look at the former steward of Hathercleugh.

He was a well-preserved, shrewd-looking man of between sixty and seventy: quiet and observant, the sort of man that you could see would think a lot without saying much.

He smiled a little as he put his hands together on the table and glanced at our expectant faces--it was just the smile of a man who knows what he is talking about.
"Aye, well, Mr.Lindsey," he responded, "maybe there's not so much mystery in this affair as there seems to be once you've got at an idea.
I'll tell you how I got at mine and what's come of it.