"No. I have read in this paper of the identification of Mrs. Brand with the woman who was murdered in Troy;" and Merry laid his hand on the Daily Budget. "I suppose you have come to see me about the matter. How did you learn the news?"
"In the same way. A friend of mine brought the paper to me."
"Oh!" Merry looked sharply in his turn. "Did this friend know that you were Mrs. Brand's cousin?"
"He did not. I usually get the paper every day from my landlady, Mrs. Baldwin. I occupy a small house on her estate in Cloverhead----"
"Where is that, sir?"
"Near Troy. In fact it is the village around which Troy is built."
"Oh!" Merry looked surprised. "Do you mean to say you live in Troy?"
"I do. And not a stone-throw away from the house where poor Flora was murdered."
"Flora--ah, Mrs. Brand. I forgot her Christian name for the moment. So you live there--a strange coincidence," said Merry cautiously.
"So strange that I have come to ask you what I am to do," said the professor, in his agitated way. "You will believe me, sir, that I know nothing of the murder. All I know about it I read in the papers, and gathered from Mr. Tracey."