The barrister’s face grew grave. “Had there been a quarrel?” he asked.
“No, sir. They didn’t seem to have been quarrelling. They seemed to part quite friends, but they had had a long argument. I could hear that much.”
Tempest turned away and moodily walked down the stairs. What had been the point of difference between the two men? When he got back to his chambers in Lincoln’s Inn he found a note from Inspector Parkyns.
“Dear Sir,—In reply to your inquiry, there is no reason at all why I should not tell you. All identification marks on the revolver have been carefully filed out, and we are quite unable to trace it.—Yours respectfully, S. Parkyns.”
Another clue had failed.
When Baxter was again brought up at Bow Street, Tempest was compelled to admit he could at present offer no explanation of the presence of the revolver in the prisoner’s rooms. Not only had he failed in this direction, but evidence was now given by the bankers of Sir John Rellingham, that since the death of Sir John a bill for £2000 had been presented for payment purporting to bear his signature as acceptor. They had never previously known Sir John to accept a bill, and his current credit balance was always so large that it seemed strange he should have done so on this occasion. They had also grave doubt as to the signature. The bill had been presented by a well-known firm of money-lenders, whose endorsement appeared on the back. A member of the firm in question, when called to give evidence, deposed that three months previously they had had dealings with the prisoner, who, professing to be acting for a client, had taken up before maturity a bill bearing the signature of a well-known peer. They had had doubts as to the genuineness of that particular signature, but had discounted it on the strength of the name with which it was endorsed.
Tempest left his seat and went over to the dock.
“Baxter, is this true?” he asked in a low tone.
“Perfectly true. I did deal with them, but I was acting for Lord Deverell, and I did it at his request.”
“Then the papers in the office will explain that?”