"No."

"I presume that it is a very quiet place. Any fresh face would

cause comment?"

"In the immediate neighbourhood, yes. But we have several small

watering-places not very far away. And the farmers take in lodgers."

"These hieroglyphics have evidently a meaning. If it is a

purely arbitrary one it may be impossible for us to solve it.

If, on the other hand, it is systematic, I have no doubt that

we shall get to the bottom of it. But this particular sample

is so short that I can do nothing, and the facts which you have

brought me are so indefinite that we have no basis for an

investigation. I would suggest that you return to Norfolk,

that you keep a keen look-out, and that you take an exact copy

of any fresh dancing men which may appear. It is a thousand

pities that we have not a reproduction of those which were done

in chalk upon the window-sill. Make a discreet inquiry also as

to any strangers in the neighbourhood. When you have collected

13.01.2007