“But we will let that pass for the moment,” the lawyer proceeded. “You haven’t consulted any one else in the city about this matter?”
“No, but I was on my way to look up President Duff of Kam City Pulp and Paper Mills when I dropped in here.”
“You acted very wisely in coming here first,” commended Mr. Winch. “I would urge you not to consult Mr. Duff or any others about it, and, I might add, it is of as deep concern to you as it is to us that Mr. Gildersleeve’s intimate affairs in this matter should not become public under any consideration.”
“But you haven’t told me why, when you accosted me on the train, you found it necessary to impersonate an American consul who has long since left the city,” insisted the impetuous Hammond.
A wry smile broke faintly over the lawyer’s face. “Gildersleeve was to blame for that,” he replied. “He insisted, for some reason that was never quite clear to me, that I should not disclose my real identity to you. It may have been that, in case you did not feel inclined to consider the suggestion to meet him, he did not wish you to know his legal advisor was acting as go-between. The use of Eulas Daly’s name was almost accidental. An old card of his must have by some chance got into my case. It appealed to me that for the interim the role of Eulas Daly would do as well as any other. I did not expect to see you again until this business was over with.”
This explanation did not impress Hammond favourably, but it was evident, from the matter-of-fact manner in which he related the deception, that Winch cared little how he took it.
So Hammond feigned as great an indifference as he asked: “Then you really did the preliminary work at Mr. Gildersleeve’s instance?”
Winch plainly did not relish being kept in the position of the cross-examined. “Yes,” he replied with a shrug. “Gildersleeve had selected you as a likely man for the job during the day while you were sitting talking to a companion next table to him in the dining car. He asked me to feel you out about it, and, at the moment you dropped into the smoker that evening, I was just about to set out in search for you.”
“One more question, Mr. Winch,” pursued Hammond. “You spoke a few moments ago about his associates ‘carrying on’ while Mr. Gildersleeve is absent. Am I to take it from that he is still alive?”
“We are certain of nothing,” answered the other, “but we have hopes for the best. It is not a point over which you need waste worry; the plans for his enterprises will be carried on as before.”