"Who murdered my uncle?" Mr. Gilberry took a pinch of snuff and shook his venerable head. "Really, it is hard to say, unless it was that tramp who asked the way to the Gipsy Stile, Mr. Owain. I suppose you saw all about that in the papers?"
Hench winced, but recovered himself immediately. "Yes, I did, Mr. Gilberry. But what reason could that tramp have had to murder my uncle. Not robbery, if the report of the inquest is to be believed, for then it was said that neither the money, nor the watch, nor the jewellery had been taken."
"Exactly. So far as I can see, there was no reason why this man should have murdered Mr. Evans." Mr. Gilberry knitted his brows and looked perplexed. "Maybe it was revenge," he concluded doubtfully.
"Revenge. Then my uncle had enemies?"
"Dozens, I should think," said the lawyer coolly. "Mr. Madoc Evans was a very cantankerous person. I may say that much ill of the dead. He quarrelled with many people, and, moreover, was very severe on poaching both as a magistrate and as a landowner. This tramp, for all I know, may have been a poacher who had a grudge against him."
"Do the police think so?"
"The police say nothing, because they have no evidence to go upon," said the lawyer sharply. "The sole person they suspect is the tramp who came to the Bull Inn. But he has disappeared, and they can't find him. However, in the village it is said that the tramp was a poacher, who murdered the Squire out of revenge. You can take or leave that opinion, as you like. The whole thing is a mystery to me, Mr. Owain."
"And to me," said Hench, in all good faith. "I shall never be satisfied until I learn who murdered my uncle."
"That wish does you credit, Mr. Owain," said Mr. Gilberry approvingly, and again the young man winced. "Considering how unfriendly the late Squire was towards your father."
"Well, my father was just as unfriendly towards him," returned Hench with a shrug. "And, as I say, I don't wish to carry on the feud. Good-bye, Mr. Gilberry. When I am settled in Cookley I shall let you know my address and will write you if necessary. You are sure that no one knows my name of Hench as having anything to do with the family at the Grange?"