“I’m afraid not. He came and called on us, and I saw him. The bill was only £500, and he brought the money in gold. He seemed very upset and anxious about it, so I went off there and then to Isaacson’s—got the bill, and Lord Deverell waited in my room whilst I was away. Consequently there was no note of any kind made about the case. He asked me not to, in fact, and he burnt the bill in my room as soon as he got it back.”
“But you’ll charge him for doing it, won’t you? It will be in your ledger or somewhere?”
“No. You see, we do all his estate business—that’s hundreds a year. So as he seemed very anxious there should be no record made of the case I let it slide. I told Marston and Moorhouse, and they quite agreed.”
“Well, we shall have to get Lord Deverell to give evidence for you.”
“He died three weeks ago.”
Tempest returned to his seat to cross-examine the money-lender.
“How did you get that bill?”
“We discounted it in the ordinary course of business.”
“For whom did you discount it?”
“It was brought to us with this letter,” and the witness produced a letter for inspection. It was handed to the magistrate, who passed it on to Tempest for inspection. To his amazement he saw that it was written on the notepaper of the firm of Rellingham, Baxter, Marston & Moorhouse—obviously in a disguised handwriting.