"But whoever Ashton
was, he's dead. And the thing that concerns me is this: if he really
was Earl of Ellingham, do you think that fact's got anything to do with
his murder?"
"That's just what we want to find out," answered Mr. Pawle eagerly. "It's
quite conceivable that he may have been murdered by somebody who had a
particular interest in keeping him out of his rights. Such things have
been known. I want to go into all that. But now here's another matter. If
Ashton really was the missing Lord Marketstoke, who is this girl whom he
put forward as his ward, to whom he's left his considerable fortune, and
about whom nobody knows anything? I've already told you there isn't a
single paper or document about her that I can discover. Was he really her
guardian?"
"Has this anything to do with it?" asked Viner. "Does it come into
things?"
Mr. Pawle did not answer for a moment; he appeared to have struck a new
vein of thought and to be exploring it deeply.
"In certain events, it would come into it pretty strongly!" he muttered
at last. "I'll tell you why, later on. Now I'm for bed--and first thing
after breakfast, in the morning, Viner, we'll go to work.
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