On our way from the office of the expert in handwriting to that of the agent, the latter mentioned that, although he had seen Mr. Mollison only once, a clerk in his employ had met him in the street after the house was taken. Without delay I interviewed this clerk, who admitted that he had seen Mr. Mollison a fortnight after the agreement was signed. Having taken no particular notice of that gentleman, he could furnish me with no better description of him than his master had supplied, except that he looked like a gentleman.
"Which was more than the man who was with him did," he added.
"Oh," I said, "he was not alone?"
"No," was the reply, "he was walking with a friend."
"With a friend?" I said. "Though one was a gentleman and the other was not?"
"Well, I suppose they were friends, because they were laughing at something."
"What did the other man look like?"
"A common sort of man; but he was dressed well enough. I can't say he seemed easy in his clothes."
"What made you notice him particularly?"
"As I came up to them Mr. Mollison said, 'You did it cleverly, Jack.' 'Oh, I can show 'em a trick or two,' said the man he called Jack; and then they burst out laughing. That made me turn round and look at the clever one."