"How many horses have you there ?" The fellow turned very red: all signs of good humor vanished from his face; my bribe evidently gave me no right to question him on that subject.
"There are no horses there," he grunted.

"The horses are in the new stable facing the road.

This one is disused." "Oh, I saw you come out from there, and I thought--" "I keep some stores there," he said sullenly.
"And that's why it's kept locked ?" I asked at a venture.
"Precisely, sir," he replied.

But his uneasy air confirmed my suspicions as to the stable.

It hid some secret, I was sure.