"
Pawle turned to Viner.
"I think we'd better tell Perkwite of all that's happened, within our own
ken," he said, and proceeded to give the visitor a brief account of the
various important details. "Now," he concluded, "it seems to me there's
only one conclusion to be arrived at. The man who shared the secret with
Ashton is certainly the man whom Armitstead saw with him in Paris. He is
probably the man whom Hyde saw leaving Londsdale Passage, just before
Hyde found the body. And he is without doubt the murderer, and is the man
to whom this claimant fellow is acting as cat's-paw. And--who is he?"
"There must be some way of finding that out," observed Mr. Perkwite. "If
your theory is correct, that this claimant is merely a man who is being
put forward, then surely the thing to do is to get at the person or
persons behind him, through him!"
"Aye, there's that to be thought of," asserted Mr. Pawle. "But it may be
a tougher job than we think for. It would have been a tremendous help if
Ashton had only mentioned a name to you."
"Sorry, but he didn't," said Mr. Perkwite. "You feel," he continued after
a moment's silence, "you feel that this affair of the Ellingham
succession lies at the root of the Ashton mystery--that he was really
murdered by somebody who wanted to get possession of those papers?"
"And to remain sole repository of the secret," declared Mr.
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