On the chief constable informing him that he was to give the gentlemen the details of the _Golden Anchor_ murder, he produced a notebook from his tunic, and commenced the story with official precision.
Ronald had arrived at the inn before dark on the previous evening, and had asked for a bed for the night.

A little later Mr.Glenthorpe, the murdered man, who had been staying at the inn for some time past, had come in for his dinner, and was so pleased to meet a gentleman in that rough and lonely place that he had asked Ronald to dine with him.

The dinner was served in an upstairs sitting-room, and during the course of the meal Mr.Glenthorpe talked freely of his scientific researches in the district, and informed his guest that he had that day been to Heathfield to draw L300 to purchase a piece of land containing some valuable fossil remains which he intended to excavate.

The two gentlemen sat talking after dinner till between ten and eleven, and then retired to rest in adjoining rooms, in a wing of the inn occupied by nobody else.

In the morning Ronald departed before anybody, except the servant, was up, refusing to wait for his boots to be cleaned.