“It must take time, that I quite anticipate, Mr. Tallboys.  Time, fortunately, is of no consequence.”

“Well, Mrs. Conway,” Mr. Tallboys said, after sitting for some minutes in thought, “it is a matter that will require careful thinking over.  How long do you intend staying here?”

“Just as long as it is necessary,” Mrs. Conway said, “a day or a month.  I have not given my own name at the ‘George,’ but shall be known there as Mrs. Brown.  As you saw, I sent my card in in an envelope, so that even your clerk should not be aware that Mrs. Conway was in Weymouth.”

“But,” the solicitor said suddenly, “surely the Miss Penfolds knew you in the old time?”

“Certainly, they did.  But, to begin with, that is nearly twenty years ago; and, of course, I have changed very much since then.”

“Not very much, Mrs. Conway,” the lawyer said; “for I once had the pleasure of seeing you when I went to the Hall to see Mr. Penfold on business.  I do not say that I should have known you anywhere, but having had your card I remembered you at once when you came into the room; and, indeed, if you will excuse my saying so, you might pass anywhere as thirty.”

“So much the better for my purpose at present,” Mrs. Conway replied.  “Thirty will do very well for the age of a housemaid at the Hall.  I should imagine the Miss Penfolds would prefer a woman of that age to a young girl; beside, you see, I must be an upper housemaid in order to have charge of the part of the house I want to examine.  As to knowing me, in the first place the Miss Penfolds will not have the advantage of receiving my card, and, in the second place, it is not very difficult for a woman to alter her appearance so as to be unrecognizable by another who has not seen her for twenty years.  My hair is a good deal darker now than it was then, and I wore it altogether differently.  A little black dye on that and my eyebrows, a servant’s cap and gown, will so alter me that you who see me now would hardly know me; certainly they will not do so.  You need not trouble about that, Mr. Tallboys; I will answer for it that they shall not know me.  It is possible, just possible, that Mr. and Mrs. Withers might know me if they saw me in church; but I shall, without letting them know my plans, guard against any indiscretion.  Now, as we have quite settled the matter, Mr. Tallboys, I shall go back to the inn, and when you have thought the matter over and decided upon the best plan for carrying out my wishes, you will send a note to Mrs. Brown at the ‘George,’ making an appointment for me to meet you here.”

Mr. Tallboys sat for some time in thought after Mrs. Conway had left him.  It was certainly a daring scheme, requiring no little courage, resolution, and self-possession to carry out, but his client evidently possessed all these qualities.  She had a clear head, and seemed to have grasped every point in the matter.  There was really no reason why she should not succeed.  There must be a spring somewhere, and if she was as patient as she declared herself to be, she would surely find it sooner or later; that is, if she could carry out her search without exciting suspicion.