"'The late Thomas Ossington died intestate!'
"'So far as our knowledge goes.'
"'Leaving instructions that you should act on his behalf?'
"'Not a bit of it. So far as we're aware, he left no instructions of any sort or kind. We have assumed a responsibility of which we should be glad to be rid. Do you know the man's history?'
"'I know something of it--though I confess, candidly, that I should like to know more. My own connection with the matter is a curious one. At a later stage I will tell you exactly what it is. In the interim, I assure you, on my word of honour, that any information you can give me shall be used for the furtherance of justice, and for that only.'
"'Very good; so long as right is done, all that we require is to be relieved of a very awkward situation. You know that Ossington was--peculiar?'
"'Not insane?'
"'Insane?--No; he was as sane as you are--every whit. But he was a disappointed man. He was malformed--the muscles of one leg were paralysed. As he grew older, the paralysis increased, until it extended up the whole of one side, and, at last, it killed him. He married a girl who acted as book-keeper at an hotel, at which he was in the habit of stopping, at Ilfracombe. She turned out a regular bad lot--finally running away with a man named Ballingall.'
"'Charles Ballingall?'
"'That's the man. Do you know him?'