“I think the idea is a capital one, Mr. Tallboys; but there is one detail I think might be improved.  I imagine that if instead of asking the foreman you choose the youngest and best-looking of the men, provided he is unmarried, you are more likely to get at the women’s sentiments.”

Mr. Tallboys laughed.  “No doubt you are right, Mrs. Conway.  That shall be done.  I must get the foreman first, though, for I don’t know the names or addresses of the other men.  I shall tell him frankly that I want to find out the opinions of the servants at the Hall about the missing will, ask him which of his men was the most given to gossip with them, and tell him to send him here to me at ten o’clock to-morrow morning; then when you see him and hear what he has to say, you can judge for yourself how far you care to trust him in the matter, or whether to trust him at all.  Perhaps you will come here a few minutes before ten, and then I can tell you what the foreman has said first.”

Accordingly at a quarter to ten the next day Mrs. Conway was again at the office.

“I think, Mrs. Conway, that things are going even better than we hoped.  The foreman said that from what little talk he had with the servants, he thought they had all been attached to Mr. Penfold, and that his sisters were by no means popular among them.  He said very often one or other of them would come into the room where they were working and make suggestions, and hunt about themselves to see if they could find anything.  But the best part of it is that one of the carpenters, a steady fellow of twenty-five, took up, as he calls it, with the upper housemaid, and he believes there is a talk about their being married some day.  If this is so it would be the very thing for you.  You could help him to get married, and the girl could help you to get her place.”

“The very thing,” Mrs. Conway said.  “Nothing could have turned out better.”

In a few minutes the young carpenter arrived.  He was a pleasant-looking young fellow, and Mrs. Conway was not surprised at the impression he had made upon the housemaid at the Hall.

“Sit down, Johnson,” Mr. Tallboys began.  “You know what I asked you to come here for?”

“Mr. Peters told me that it was something to do with that job we had at the Miss Penfolds’, sir.”

“Yes, that is it, Johnson.  You know we were looking for a missing will there?”

“Yes, sir; so I understood.”

“Now, what we wanted to ask you specially, Johnson, was whether you can tell us what the servants at the Hall thought about it?”

The young carpenter turned rather red in the face, and twisted his cap about in his fingers.

“Well, sir, I don’t know that I can say much about that.  I don’t think most of them was overfond of the Miss Penfolds, and wouldn’t have been sorry if the will had been found that would have given them another master or mistress.”

“Just so, Johnson, that is what I thought was likely.  Now, the point I want to know, Johnson, and this lady here is, I may tell you, interested in the matter of this will being found, is as to whether there is in your opinion any one of the maids at the Hall who could be trusted to aid us in this business?  Of course we should make it worth her while to do so.”