"No. I caught sight of one word however,--quite by accident."
"What was the word?"
"Well," hesitated Ritson fidgetting, "it certainly might throw some light on the mystery of his death, although I scarcely think so. But to betray a client's business relations is----"
"The affair is too serious to admit of a tender conscience," said Browne, imperiously. "Herries is in danger of his life, and I believe Maud Tedder knows much more than she chooses to tell. Seeing what her attitude is, I am determined to save Herries and prevent her getting the money."
"Surely you don't think that Maud knows who killed her father, and is deliberately sacrificing her cousin?"
"I don't know what to think," answered Browne impatiently. "We can talk of that later. Tell me what word you saw."
"Tarabacca!"
"What does that mean?" asked Browne puzzled.
"I can't tell you. But the word I saw was certainly something like that. I can't be sure of the spelling, but it conveyed something like tobacco to my mind. Tarabacca," repeated the lawyer, as his clerk entered with the letter-book, "it was certainly a name like that."
"Perhaps the name of a town. It sounds like a foreign name."