"Lord Stanford may be able to tell us something about him," I said.
"Zena makes a point, Wigan," said Quarles. "It is rather a complicated puzzle. Of course, Portman may not be dead, but if he is alive why should he run the risk of a police search among his papers? He would know that such an investigation would be likely to do him harm. He would hardly run such a risk. Since Mr. Isaacson saw him in Finsbury Pavement he has vanished completely. He left the gas burning in his room, therefore he did not expect to be out long. He was hurrying, according to Mr. Isaacson, presumably to keep an appointment. Now, if he is dead, it looks like a premeditated thing, because there is no body. It is easy enough to murder; it is the most difficult thing in the world to hide the victim successfully. If a sudden crime is committed, and the murderer has his wits about him, the body will probably be found under circ.u.mstances likely to throw suspicion on anyone but the right man; but a premeditated crime usually means the disappearance of the body if in any way it can be managed. So we get a kind of theory which may carry us a long way, and the further we go we shall be the more convinced, I fancy, that many other theories are just as likely to be right."
"Portman may not be dead," I said.
"For the reasons I have given I think we may presume that he is,"
Quarles answered. "The difficulty of the case arises from the fact that so many people stand to profit by his death."
"Stanford, for instance," said I.
"And Isaacson, perhaps," he returned, "and a score of others. As far as Stanford is concerned, he is a young man with expectations, but with little money at present. He is probably in the hands of other money-lenders besides Portman; he is a fool no doubt, but one would not expect him to be a murderer."
"Given certain conditions, you cannot tell what a man will do."
"True, Wigan, but I do not find the required conditions. Don"t let me influence you. Something may be learned from Stanford, but that would not be my line of attack."
"What would yours be?"
"I should like to talk to Mrs. Eccles and the clerk."
When Quarles solved a case his explanation was usually so clear that one could only marvel that the salient points had not been apparent to everybody from the first; when he was considering the difficulties it seemed impossible that the mystery could ever be solved. As I listened to him I felt that his help was necessary in this affair.
"Why not come with me to Finsbury?" I said.
"I will to-morrow," he answered. "By the way, Wigan, wasn"t it foggy on the night of Portman"s disappearance?"
"It was, dear," said Zena. "Don"t you remember, I went to see some people at Highgate that day and was late for dinner?"
Quarles nodded and changed the conversation; he had done with the affair until to-morrow.
When I met him next morning, wrapped in a heavy cloak, for it was cold, I could not help thinking that he looked the very last man in the world to solve an intricate mystery. He was the kind of old gentleman who would annoy everybody by asking foolish questions and telling stories which had grown h.o.a.ry with age.
"I"m a simple old fool, Wigan, that"s my character," he said, guessing my thoughts; "and, if you can look annoyed with me and show irritability, so much the better. Where does Isaacson live? I should like to see him first."
I found it quite easy to be irritable. When we called on Isaacson, Quarles asked him the most ridiculous questions which certainly had nothing whatever to do with Portman, but in a vague way concerned the theory and honesty of money-lending.
"Was Mr. Portman a Jew?" he asked suddenly.
"Yes."
"I seem to remember seeing him without gla.s.ses," said Quarles. "I thought Jews always wore gla.s.ses."
"We are usually short-sighted," said Isaacson, touching his spectacles, "I am myself. Mr. Portman worked in gla.s.ses always, but if you met him in the street you would probably see him without them."
"Ah, you are remembering that he did not wear them the night you met him in Finsbury Pavement," said Quarles, "that is probably why he did not see you."
"He happened to be wearing them that night," Isaacson returned. "I believe he did see me, but was in too much of a hurry to stop."
"Rude, very rude," remarked Quarles.
"Small men have to put up with many things from big ones," said Isaacson humbly.
The professor treated him to a short dissertation on the equality of man, and then we left.
"Honest, I think, so far as he goes," said Quarles, "but he is desperately afraid of being drawn too deeply into this affair. He couldn"t afford to be questioned too closely about his business, Wigan."
It had been thought advisable to keep the clerk at his post for the present, and he was quite ignorant of the fact that he was watched both during his business and leisure hours. His own importance rather impressed him at this time, and Quarles soon succeeded in making him talkative, but, as far as I could see, very little of what he said was worth particular note.
"I think Mr. Portman would have been wise if he had confided more in you," said Quarles, after talking to him for some time.
"I think so, too," the youth answered.
"He never did, I suppose?"
"No--no, I cannot say he ever did."
"When he came in that afternoon he stood in the doorway there and talked to you?"
"He was telling me about some papers he would want in the morning.
Very snappy he was, I can tell you."
"The weather, possibly. It was foggy and unpleasant."
"He was usually unpleasant, no matter what the weather was. He paid me fairly well, or I shouldn"t have stayed with him as I have done."
"Yet, when he went out later that evening, he stopped in the doorway to say good night."
"He did, and you might have knocked me down with a feather," said the youth. "I don"t remember his ever doing such a thing before. I"d put some letters which had come during the afternoon on his table, and the news in them must have been good. He"d had some worrying business on hand, I know."
"That would certainly account for his cordiality," said Quarles.
"Really, I sympathize with you. Practically, I suppose, you have little to do but answer the door when the bell rings."
"If the office bell rings I pull this catch," the youth said, "and the client walks in. The front door has a spring on it and closes itself.
Sometimes a fool will ring the office bell when it"s Mrs. Eccles he wants, and that"s annoying."
"Very," laughed the professor. "Did any clients call that day?"
"No. A chap wanting to sell some patent office files came and wasted my time for a quarter of an hour; swore that the governor had seen him two or three months ago and told him to call. A rotten patent it was, too."
"He showed them to you?"
"Had a bag full of them. Wanted me to buy the beastly things. I had to be rude to him to get rid of him."
"Did you go to the door with him?"
"Not much!" the youth answered. "I just pulled this catch and told him he would find the door open, and the sooner he got out of it the better. He would have liked to borrow a bob or two, I fancy, but I wasn"t parting."
"Did you tell Mr. Portman he had called?"