‘I took a taxi.’
‘From where?’
‘The Savoy commissionaire called it.’
‘Yes?’
‘The next thing was I received an astonishing letter,’ and Felix went on to tell the lawyer about the typewritten letter signed ‘Le Gautier,’ his preparations to obtain the cask, his visit to St. Katherine’s Docks, his interviews with the clerk, Broughton, and the manager of the dock office, his ruse to get the I. and C.’s notepaper, the forging of the letter to Harkness, the removal of the cask to St. Malo, his dining at Dr. Martin’s, the midnight interview with Burnley, the disappearance of the cask, its final recovery, its unpacking, and the discovery of its terrible contents. ‘That, Mr. Clifford,’ he ended up, ‘is every single thing I know about the affair, good, bad, or indifferent.’
‘I congratulate you on the clear way you have made your statement,’ returned the solicitor. ‘Now, excuse me while I think if there is anything further I want to ask you.’
He slowly turned over the rather voluminous notes he had taken.
‘The first point,’ he went on at length, ‘is the question of your intimacy with Madame Boirac. Can you tell me how many times you saw her since her marriage?’
Felix considered.
‘About half a dozen, I should say, or perhaps eight or even nine. Not more than nine certainly.’