“Give me a little of your time, and a great deal of your patience,” was the quiet reply. “I have just come to live in your county at Market Ballaston. I have taken the Great House there.”
“The Great House,” the other repeated reminiscently. “Oh, yes, I remember, of course. So you are living there. The scene of a very unfortunate tragedy which cost us a lot of time and trouble lately.”
“So I hear,” Mr. Johnson murmured.
Major Holmes leaned back in his chair.
“I am afraid,” he confessed, “that Norfolk has added to the somewhat scanty list of undiscovered crimes. We don’t lay it too much to heart, however, as Scotland Yard took the whole business out of our hands in the early stages.”
“A little unwise of them, perhaps,” Mr. Johnson observed. “Local police may not be so intelligent, but they are at least tenacious, and they often have the better grasp of the situation.”
The Chief Constable remained silent. He had his own opinion, but it was not a matter for discussion with an outsider.
“I imagine,” his visitor proceeded, “that it would be rather a score for the county police if they were to achieve a success where Scotland Yard has failed.”
Major Holmes glanced across at his caller keenly.
“Have you brought me any information?” he asked.