Part 19 (2/2)
”And where can I find him?”
”You can find him, sir, by staying here, if you please, till one o'clock. He will be coming through with the up Express from Crampton, which stays at Blackwater for ten minutes.”
We waited for the up Express, beguiling the time as best we could by strolling along the Blackwater road till we came almost to the outskirts of the town, from which the station was distant nearly a couple of miles. By one o'clock we were back again upon the platform, and waiting for the train. It came punctually, and I at once recognized the ruddy-faced guard who had gone down with my train the evening before.
”The gentlemen want to ask you something about Mr. Dwerrihouse, Somers,” said the station-master, by way of introduction.
The guard flashed a keen glance from my face to Jelf's, and back again to mine.
”Mr. John Dwerrihouse, the late director?” said he, interrogatively.
”The same,” replied my friend. ”Should you know him if you saw him?”
”Anywhere, sir.”
”Do you know if he was in the 4.15 Express yesterday afternoon?”
”He was not, sir.”
”How can you answer so positively?”
”Because I looked into every carriage, and saw every face in that train, and I could take my oath that Mr. Dwerrihouse was not in it. This gentleman was,” he added, turning sharply upon me. ”I don't know that I ever saw him before in my life, but I remember _his_ face perfectly. You nearly missed taking your seat in time at this station, sir, and you got out at Clayborough.”
”Quite true,” I replied; ”but do you not also remember the face of the gentleman who travelled down in the same carriage with me as far as here?”
”It was my impression, sir, that you travelled down alone,” said Somers, with a look of some surprise.
”By no means. I had a fellow-traveller as far as Blackwater, and it was in trying to restore him the cigar-case which he had dropped in the carriage, that I so nearly let you go on without me.”
”I remember your saying something about a cigar-case, certainly,”
replied the guard, ”but----”
”You asked for my ticket just before we entered the station.”
”I did, sir.”
”Then you must have seen him. He sat in the corner next the very door to which you came.”
”No, indeed. I saw no one.”
I looked at Jelf. I began to think the guard was in the ex-director's confidence, and paid for his silence.
”If I had seen another traveller I should have asked for his ticket,”
added Somers. ”Did you see me ask for his ticket, sir?”
”I observed that you did not ask for it, but he explained that by saying----”
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