Mr Clayton nodded without speaking. He was listening with eager attention.
‘Next,’ continued Tanner, ‘I did not tell you whose murder the man Douglas was suspected of. It was that of Sir William Ponson.’
‘God bless my soul!’ cried the other, ‘you don’t say so? A terrible affair that. And you think you’ve got the man, do you? All I can say is, I’d like to see him hanged.’
‘It seems clear from various things,’ Tanner went on, ‘that the trouble originated before Douglas went to America. Now Edward Dale knew Sir William in those days. That is coincidence Number Two.’
‘You said, I think, that Douglas’s history could not be traced before he became a clerk in the Pennsylvania Railway? How then do you know he left England prior to that?’
‘We don’t absolutely know, but we think it for two reasons: first, he can speak with a North of England accent, and secondly, that in an old book of his we found the photograph of the Dales’ grave.’
The other nodded.
‘That photograph,’ continued Tanner, ‘is coincidence Number Three. Few men would have such a photograph unless it represented something connected with their own families. And coincidence Number Four, Mr Clayton, is this. Douglas is a very short man with very small hands and feet.’
‘God bless my soul!’ Mr Clayton exclaimed again. ‘But this is most interesting. Go on, Mr Tanner.’
‘Well, sir, that leads me up to a very obvious question. You must have guessed it. You have known Dale intimately in the past; could you identify him now?