"He went away again last night, sir."
"Went away, did he!"--in a mocking tone of incredulity.
"He did, sir. After the doctor left he got up and dressed and came down, saying he was better. He didn't seem to think much of his illness; he had been as bad, he said, before. I confess I was surprised, myself, to hear he was going away, for I thought him not well enough to travel. But I believe he was obliged to go."
"What was his name?"
"I did not hear it, sir. He was here but a few hours in all."
"Look here, Mrs. Hopley: if you will tell me where that gentleman came from, and what his name is, I will give you five sovereigns."
Her eyes opened, apparently with the magnitude of the offer.
"I wish I could, sir. I'm sure I should be glad to earn all that, if it were in my power; for I don't believe Hopley will be able to work over-much longer, and we are laying up what little we can. I think he came from London, but I am not sure: and I think he's going off to some foreign country, for he and my mistress were talking of the sea. She wished him a good voyage and a safe landing. I heard her."
The detective paused. Was this true or false? "What was his name? Come, Mrs. Hopley?"
"Sir, I have said that I did not hear his name. He came without our expecting him, or I might have heard beforehand. My mistress called him Edward: but of course that must be his Christian name. I understood him to be some relation of hers."