Part 21 (1/2)
”Yes,” he said, ”I know the writing quite well. And--these were in Mr.
Ashton's possession?”
”We have just found them--Mr. Viner and I--in a cabinet in his house,”
replied Mr. Pawle. ”They are the only papers we have so far been able to bring to light. But as I have said, we are convinced there were others--much more important ones!--in his possession, probably in his pocketbook.”
Lord Ellingham handed the letters back.
”You think that this Mr. Ashton was in possession of a secret relating to the missing man--my uncle, Lord Marketstoke?” he asked.
”I am convinced of it!” declared Mr. Pawle.
Lord Ellingham glanced shrewdly at his visitors.
”I should like to know what it was!” he said.
”Your lords.h.i.+p feels as I do,” remarked Mr. Pawle. ”But now I should like to ask a question which arises out of this visit. As we approached your lords.h.i.+p's door, just now, we saw, leaving it, two men. One of them, my friend Mr. Viner immediately recognized. He does not know who the man is--”
”Which of the two men do you mean!” interrupted Lord Ellingham. ”I may as well say that they had just left me.”
”The clean-shaven man,” answered Viner.
”Whom Mr. Viner knows for a fact,” continued Mr. Pawle, ”to have been in Ashton's company only an hour or so before Ashton's murder!”
Lord Ellingham looked at Viner in obvious surprise.
”But you do not know who he is?” he exclaimed.
”No,” replied Viner, ”I don't. But there is no doubt of the truth of what Mr. Pawle has just said. This man was certainly with Mr. Ashton at a tavern in Notting Hill from about nine-thirty to ten-thirty on the evening of Ashton's death. In fact, they left the tavern together.”
The young n.o.bleman suddenly pulled open a drawer in his desk, produced a box of cigarettes and silently offered it to his visitors. He lighted a cigarette himself, and for a moment smoked in silence--it seemed to Viner that his youthful face had grown unusually grave and thoughtful.
”Mr. Pawle,” he said at last, ”I'm immensely surprised by what you've told me, and all the more so because this is the second surprise I've had this afternoon. I may as well tell you that the two gentlemen whom you saw going away just now brought me some very astonis.h.i.+ng news--yours comes right on top of it! And, if you please, I'd rather not say any more about it, just now, but I'm going to make a proposal to you. Will you--and Mr. Viner, if he'll be so good--meet me tomorrow morning, say at noon, at my solicitors' offices?”
”With pleasure!” responded Mr. Pawle. ”Your lords.h.i.+p's solicitors are--”
”Carless and Driver, Lincoln's Inn Fields,” answered Lord Ellingham.
”Friends of ours,” said Mr. Pawle. ”We will meet your lords.h.i.+p there at twelve o 'clock to the minute.”
”And--you'll bring that with you?” suggested Lord Ellingham, pointing to the packet of letters which Mr. Pawle held in his hand.
”Just so, my lord,” a.s.sented Mr. Pawle. ”And we'll be ready to tell all we know--for there are further details.”
Outside the house the old lawyer gripped Viner's elbow.
”That boy knows something!” he said with a meaning smile. ”He's astute enough for his age--smart youngster! But--what does he know? Those two men have told him something. Viner, we must find out who that clean-shaven man is. I have some idea that I have seen him before--I shouldn't be at all surprised if he's a solicitor, may have seen him in some court or other. But in that case I wonder he didn't recognize me.”
”He didn't look at you,” replied Viner. ”He and the other man were too much absorbed in whatever it was they were talking about. I have been wondering since I first saw him at the tavern,” he continued, ”if I ought not to tell the police what I know about him--I mean, that he was certainly in Ashton's company on the evening of the murder. What do you think?”