“I am sorry,” he said in a milder tone; “that is my weakness. Some day I will tell you the whole story but for the moment it were better that it were not told. I will tell you this,” he turned round and faced the detective squarely, “Kara tortured and killed my wife.”
T. X. said no more.
Half way through lunch he returned indirectly to the subject.
“Do you know Gathercole?” he asked.
T. X. nodded.
“I think you asked me that question once before, or perhaps it was somebody else. Yes, I know him, rather an eccentric man with an artificial arm.”
“That's the cove,” said T. X. with a little sigh; “he's one of the few men I want to meet just now.”
“Why?”
“Because he was apparently the last man to see Kara alive.”
John Lexman looked at the other with an impatient jerk of his shoulders.