"But--do you mean to imply that
whatever message it is that he's sent to your partner in London this
morning has not been sent in good faith?"
"I don't imply anything," answered Byner. "All I say is--before I attach
any value to his message I, like Collingwood, want to know something
about the sender. He may have been put up to sending it. He may be in
collusion with somebody. Now, Mr. Eldrick, you can come in
here--strongly! I don't want to be seen in this affair--yet. Will you go
and see Murgatroyd? Tell him his wire to Halstead & Byner in London has
been communicated to you here. Ask him for further particulars--and then
drop in on me at my hotel and tell me what you've learnt. I'll be found
in the smoking-room there any time after two-thirty onward."
Eldrick's intense curiosity in what was rapidly becoming a fascinating
mystery to him, led him to accept this embassy. And a little before
three o'clock he walked into the smoking-room at the _Central Hotel_ and
discovered Byner in a comfortable corner.
"I've seen Murgatroyd," he whispered, as he took an adjacent chair.
"Decent honest enough man--very poor, I should say. He tells a plain
enough story. Parrawhite, whom he knew as one of our clerks, told him,
last November 23rd----"
"He was exact about dates, then, was he?" interrupted Byner.
"He mentioned them readily enough," replied the solicitor.
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