"I never worried him with callers of that sort."
Then Quarles became impressive.
"I suppose you have no idea where Mr. Portman is? To your knowledge nothing has happened which would account for his absence?"
"Nothing. If you want my opinion--I should say he"s dead, had an accident, most likely, and no papers on him to say who he was."
"One more question," said Quarles, "in strict confidence, mind. Is Mrs. Eccles honest?"
"As daylight," was the prompt reply. "Would she have put the police on this business if she hadn"t been?"
"I never thought of that," said Quarles humbly. "Your brain is young and mine is old."
"Makes a difference, no doubt," said the youth.
"And my memory is like a sieve," the professor went on. "I"ve already forgotten whether this file seller was a clean-shaven chap or wore a beard."
"Don"t worry about that," said the youth, "because I didn"t describe him. He was an old chap with a gray beard, and had lost most of his teeth, I should think, by the way he talked."
"Poor fellow. Poor fellow! I expect I should have been fool enough to give him a bob."
"I expect you would," laughed the youth, in his superior wisdom.
With Mrs. Eccles Quarles"s method was still foolish. For some time he did not mention Mr. Portman, and so silly was he that I should not have been surprised had the woman been less respectful in her manner.
But he set her talking as he had set the clerk talking, and she was presently explaining that the guest her master was expecting to dine with him must have been of considerable importance, because the preparations were elaborate.
"He"s never given such a dinner before," said Mrs. Eccles, "and I suggested that with such preparation he might have asked other guests."
"And the wine?" asked Quarles.
"He said he would look after that himself."
"Very natural," answered the professor. "You"ve been with Mr. Portman many years, haven"t you?"
"Fourteen or more."
"So long! I wonder if you remember a young friend of mine who used to come here, I think. Ten or eleven years ago it must be. He squinted and had red hair."
"I do remember him," said Mrs. Eccles. "He came here to dine once, I recollect. I believe Mr. Portman said he was going abroad. I know he dined here, and I do not think I saw him again."
Quarles nodded.
"I believe he did leave the country; some said in disgrace. I wonder who it was that was going to dine with Mr. Portman that night."
"The master didn"t say. All he said was an old friend."
"A young man might be called an old friend," said Quarles.
"Oh, he couldn"t be young," said Mrs. Eccles, "because the master said he had known him when he was a young man."
"That is interesting," said Quarles. "Shall we go and look at Mr.
Portman"s room, Wigan?"
When we closed the door Quarles stood in the center of the room and looked slowly round it.
"Was that screen standing there when you first entered the room, Wigan?"
"Yes."
"Where did you find the safe key?"
"Under that bookshelf."
He went to the safe and walked slowly from it to the door, flicking his hand as he went. Then he looked out of the windows.
"No exit or entrance that way," he said. "There is only the door. Is that the chest that won"t open?"
He turned the key and tried the lid. He could not lift it. He locked the chest, then unlocked it again, and hammered upon the lid with his fist.
"The bolts sound as if they worked properly," he said. "I think it"s only that the lid has caught somehow."
We tackled it together, and, after several efforts, we succeeded in raising the lid. The chest was empty. Quarles examined it very closely without and within. We could not move it, it was too heavy, but the professor produced a magnifying gla.s.s and studied the marks on the wood. He measured the length and depth of the chest, and shut it and opened it several times.
"Opens quite easily now, Wigan," he remarked.
Very carefully he had put two newspapers into it, and some odd bits of paper, which he took from his pocket.
"You see how I have placed them, Wigan, which way up the newspapers are, and the sc.r.a.ps of writing on this piece of paper? We"ll set a trap," and he closed the chest and locked it. "This is an old house, and there may be a way into this room which we know nothing about. We shall see."
We left the room, but Quarles told me not to lock the door. He beckoned me to follow him to the kitchen.
"Mrs. Eccles, how long has your master had that oaken chest in his room?" he asked the housekeeper.
"It"s been there all my time, sir."
"Well, I shouldn"t be surprised if it is connected with your master"s disappearance."
Mrs. Eccles"s mouth slowly opened in astonishment.
"We shall be back in two hours, and then--then we shall know."
We left her and went to the office. The youth was cutting an initial on the corner of the table.
"Busy, I see," said Quarles. "I fancy Mr. Portman"s disappearance has something to do with that old chest in his room."
"How can that be?"
"I don"t know yet. We are going to make an important inquiry and shall be back in a couple of hours. We"ll be careful to ring the office bell, not the house one."