"Ten minutes! An hour, sir, if you wish it. Since the coaches were knocked off the road there ain't----But I needn't trouble you on that score, sir."
"May I ask whether you have lived in Stavering for any considerable number of years?"
"For half a century, sir; a little more or a little less."
"In that case, you have probably some knowledge of the existence of a family of the name of Pengarvon--the Pengarvons of Broome, I believe they are generally called in these parts."
"There are not many folks in Stavering or for miles round about but what have heard talk of the Pengarvons of Broome. A queer family, sir, very!"
"So I have been told," answered the stranger, dryly. "Who lives at Broome at the present time?"
"Miss Pengarvon, sir, a lady getting well on into years, eldest daughter of the late Sir Jasper Pengarvon--with whom the title died, there being no heir male in the family."
"Sir Jasper was twice married, was he not?"
"He was, sir. When he died he left two daughters by his first wife and one by his second."
"Just so. Now, as to the daughter by the second wife--she is still living, I presume?" He leaned forward a little as he put the question, and seemed to wait almost breathlessly for an answer.