Let me return to business. Here I am, at two o'clock on a fine summer's
afternoon, left entirely alone, to consider the safest means of
approaching Mr. Noel Vanstone on my own account. My private suspicions
of his miserly character produce no discouraging effect on me. I have
extracted cheering pecuniary results in my time from people quite as
fond of their money as he can be. The real difficulty to contend with is
the obstacle of Mrs. Lecount. If I am not mistaken, this lady merits a
little serious consideration on my part. I will close my chronicle for
to-day, and give Mrs. Lecount her due.
_Three o'clock._--I open these pages again to record a discovery which
has taken me entirely by surprise.
After completing the last entry, a circumstance revived in my memory
which I had noticed on escorting the ladies this morning to the railway.
I then remarked that Miss Vanstone had only taken one of her three boxes
with her--and it now occurred to me that a private investigation of the
luggage she had left behind might possibly be attended with beneficial
results. Having, at certain periods of my life been in the habit of
cultivating friendly terms with strange locks, I found no difficulty in
establishing myself on a familiar footing with Miss Vanstone's boxes.
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