And she turned the inside of the collar to us, pointing her finger to some words stamped in black on the linen.
"Take heed of that!" she said.

"He'd a dozen of those collars, brand-new, when he came, and this, you see, is where he bought them; and where he bought them, there, too, he bought his ready-made suit of clothes--that was brand-new as well,--here's the name on a tab inside the coat: Brown Brothers, Gentlemen's Outfitters, Exchange Street, Liverpool.
What does all that prove but that it was from Liverpool he came ?" "Aye!" I said.

"And it proves, too, that he was wanting an outfit when he came to Liverpool from--where?
A long way further afield, I'm thinking! But it's something to know as much as that, and you've no doubt hit on a clue that might be useful, mother.

And if we can find out that the other man came from Liverpool, too, why then--" But I stopped short there, having a sudden vision of a very wide world of which Liverpool was but an outlet.

Where had Gilverthwaite last come from when he struck Liverpool, and set himself up with new clothes and linen?
And had this mysterious man who had met such a terrible fate come also from some far-off part, to join him in whatever it was that had brought Gilverthwaite to Berwick?
And--a far more important thing,--mysterious as these two men were, what about the equally mysterious man that was somewhere in the background--the murderer?
Chisholm and I had no great difficulty--indeed, we had nothing that you might call a difficulty--in finding out something about the murdered man at Peebles.