"Where in Heaven's name did you get that, Erica?" her father asked, astonished.
"I bought it for ten shillings from a stone breaker at Paddock Wood. He gave a tramp five shillings for it, and thought it such a bargain that he didn't want to part with it. I had to have cold tea with him, and listen to what the Border Regiment did on the first of July, and see the bullet scar on his shin, before he would give up the coat. I was afraid to go away and leave him with it in case he sold it to someone else, or I couldn't find him again."
"What makes you think this is Tisdall's coat?" Grant asked.
"This," she said, and showed the cigarette burn. "He told me to look for that."
"Who did?"
"Mr. Tisdall!"
"Who?" said all three men at once.
"I met him by accident on Wednesday. And since then I've been searching for the coat. But it was great luck coming across it.
"You met him! Where?"
"In a lane near Mallingford."