"Sir Simon expected him. He might have gone down to the front door of the inn, and let him enter, after all were in bed."
"No. Sir Simon had his own reasons for keeping the appointment with this man dark, and knew also that this man Gowrie--as I learned from Trent--slept in the tap-room. To have admitted his friend in that way, would have aroused the suspicions of Gowrie, and there might have been trouble."
"Gowrie might have seen the admission of the stranger, and have been bribed to go away," suggested the doctor, who still held to the belief that his old tutor was implicated in some way.
"No," said Kind again, "and I'll tell you why. I found a red silk handkerchief pinned across the window of Sir Simon's bedroom."
"As a sort of signal. Eh?"
"Yes. From what I have gathered, this is what happened. Sir Simon came to the 'Marsh Inn' from Tarhaven to meet someone, who was blackmailing him."
"But, Kind," said Herries, quickly, "I knew very little of my uncle and did not get on well with him, but he was an honest man, and not the kind of person to be blackmailed."
"And I, who knew Sir Simon intimately, as his doctor," added Browne, "can add my protest to that assumption. Sir Simon was a straightforward man, if a trifle close-fisted. He certainly would not lay himself open to blackmail."
"Sir Simon was a millionaire," said Kind in his driest manner, "and those sort of people do not invariably make their money honestly."
"My uncle was perfectly honest," insisted Herries resolutely.