"A stranger? I remember no one of that name," said Clive.
"I thought he was a stranger, sir; but of late I have begun to suspect he was not such a stranger as he seemed."
"How did you meet him?"
"Accidentally, sir, the night of your banquet in Market Drayton."
"Indeed! 'Tis all vastly curious. Was he lodging in the town?"
"He came in from Chester that night and lodged at the Four Alls."
"With that disreputable sot Grinsell----" Clive paused. "Did he tell you anything about himself?
"Very little, sir, except that he'd been unlucky. I think he mentioned once that he was a fellow at a Cambridge college, but he spoke to me most about India."
As he put his questions Clive leant forward, and seemed to become more keenly interested with every answer. He now turned and gave a hard look at the bluff man whom he had called Mr. Merriman. The rest of the company were silent.
"Do you happen to know whether he went up to the Hall?" asked Clive.