"If you'll give me a clue to his whereabouts, I'll do my best," was the meek reply of the pupil.
"I can't," said the ex-detective, frankly. "I did my best to hunt him down four years ago, before I retired, and I failed."
"Ho! Ho! So this cove has been in trouble before?"
"Not only in trouble, but in prison."
"On what charge?" asked Gebb, with openly expressed surprise.
"On a charge of murder!"
"What! Is this assassination of Miss Ligram his second crime?"
"It is," replied Parge, enjoying the astonishment of his visitor; "but this man--I'll tell you his name later on--did not intend to kill Miss Ligram."
"But he did kill her--strangled her!"
"Not Miss Ligram!" said the fat man, obstinately. "Ligram was an assumed name."