“Come in,” cried the squire. “Oh, it is the pilot. How now, Trigger?”
“The policeman and Warner have returned, squire.”
“Tell them to come in and make their report,” said the squire, and turning to the men as they entered, he asked, “Have the suspected men been seen or captured, officer?”
“Not at present, your worship. They have been seen, and may have gone north, while we took the Newhaven route.”
“You naturally inferred that they were leaving the country by the Dieppe steamboat. I think that you, Warner, have been in this neighbourhood before?”
“I have, your worship, but the last time I came down I was with Mr Falcon and Croft, in the same train with them from Sydenham.”
“But where had you seen them previously?”
“I have seen them at the Crystal Palace more than once, your worship. I had to lock up Croft for trespass, and his master I found at a doctor’s house near here in a skeleton cupboard.”
“What do I hear? You are surely romancing, Warner?”
“No, squire, he is not,” cried Doctor Peters. “I admit that last ludicrous allegation to be true, for Mr Falcon, after he was shot by a poacher, as he said, came to consult me as to the injury he received in his back, at the same time this man, Warner, if he really is a detective, did obtain admission to my consulting-room, and as the cupboard was not occupied by the skeleton, Falcon stepped in there instead of going into the next room.”