"I know Mrs. Prisom very well," said Garth; "she is an old servant of our family, but I do not see what you can learn from her."
"I may learn nothing, on the other hand I may learn a great deal. She was well acquainted with the father of the late baronet."
"And she was well acquainted with my mother, and with the father of the present baronet. But in what way do you expect her to help you?"
"Well, I'll tell you. I want to find out if there is anything in the family history of the Fellengers likely to have induced Sir Gregory to submit to that tattooing."
"I am a member of the family, and I don't know of any reason," said Garth.
"Mrs. Prisom belongs to a generation before you," replied Fanks, "and it is possible that she may know something. Of course, it is only fancy on my part. Still, a drowning man clutches a straw, and I am clutching at this. We may learn something."
Garth shook his head. He knew the history of his family, and there was nothing he could recall likely to touch on the subject of a tattooed cross.
Mrs. Prisom received them both with great dignity, and in half an hour they were seated at a well-spread table. Both did justice to the viands set before them; and during the progress of the meal they chattered about the case. While they were thus conversing Fanks elicited an important fact concerning Sir Louis.
"I don't know why you should suspect your cousin," he said, in reply to a remark of Garth's. "Mr. Vaud told us that both Sir Louis and Binjoy were at Taxton-on-Thames on the night of the murder. The first was ill, and the second was in attendance."
"True enough," replied Garth, frankly; "all the same, you proved that Binjoy was masquerading in London on the evening of the twenty-first."