Was there any person who desired James's death?
Had any one tracked him to this place--got rid of him by some subtle means?
Had-- "Pshaw!" he muttered, suddenly interrupting his train of thought, and recognizing how shapeless and futile it all was.

"It just comes to this--I'm asking myself if the poor lad was murdered! And what have I to go on?
Naught--naught at all!" Nevertheless, there were papers before him which had been taken from James's pocket; there was the little journal or diary which he always carried, and in which, to Allerdyke's knowledge, he always jotted down a brief note of each day's proceedings wherever he went.

He could examine these, at any rate--they might cast some light on his cousin's recent doings.
He began with the diary, turning over its pages until he came to the date on which James had left Bradford for St.Petersburg.That was on March 30th.

He had travelled to the Russian capital overland--by way of Berlin and Vilna, at each of which places he had evidently broken his journey.
From St.Petersburg he had gone on to Moscow, where he had spent the better part of a week.

All his movements were clearly set out in the brief pencilled entries in the journal.