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Judith remembered the name from the meal books. “What sort of man is he?”

Mrs. Partridge considered before answering. “Competent, I would say.”

Baines glanced at Judith.

It was not much of a description, but from Mrs. Partridge it amounted almost to a character reference.

“Can you tell us anything else?”

“He is quiet, and reads when he has time. He does enjoy a tipple of whisky but he keeps his lordship presentable, which cannot always be easy.”

Judith almost smiled.

“Does he mix with the other servants?” Baines asked.

“Less than some I could mention.”

“Does he know Blackthorn well?”

“He has visited for years.”

“How many would you say?”

“Four, perhaps five. Lord Cranford came before that, but he had another man then.”

Judith felt the first small prickle of interest.

“Has Mallory ever asked about the old passages?”

“No. Not in my hearing, anyway.”

“Would he have used them?”

“All the servants do, sir.” Mrs. Partridge considered him without offence. “A good servant learns a house quickly. A visiting valet needs to know which stairs lead where; where hot water is brought up, where boots are left and which doors gentlemen prefer not to use. If Mr. Mallory wished to learn the west passages, I cannot say he would have needed to ask.”

It was the most useful answer Judith and Baines had received all morning.

They spoke next with Simmons, who proved no more suspicious of Mallory than Mrs. Partridge had been.

“Mr. Mallory is a competent gentleman’s gentleman, sir.”

“You all use the same word,” Baines complained.

Simmons’s long, solemn face remained unmoved. “Competence is noticeable in service, sir.”

Judith looked away before amusement betrayed her.

Mallory had carried items to the village on several occasions, but that was entirely ordinary. Valets routinely received parcels for their masters. Once, he had borrowed sealing wax from the butler’s pantry.

They interviewed two footmen, three maids, a groom and the under-butler, and by three o’clock Judith had acquired a much clearer understanding of how little anyone noticed a competent servant.

Mallory had been seen everywhere and remembered nowhere. One maid thought she had once seen him near the west corridor but could not remember when, while another insisted it had been Colonel Bosworth’s man.

Nothing amounted to evidence, which was why it was so difficult to trace. More importantly, Mallory had not been present at every gathering from which information appeared to have escaped.

Judith pointed this out when she and Baines returned to the drawing room.

“That does not eliminate him,” Baines said.