“I was going to ask you how you got hold of it,” answered the porter.
“Why do you ask?”
“Only because it is surely Mr. Walter Brooklyn’s stick. I have often seen him carrying it.”
“Take a good look. Are you quite certain it is his?”
“Either it is, or it’s one just the same. It’s a most unusual pattern, too.”
“Yes, rhinoceros horn, I should say. Could you swear to it?”
“Hardly that. There might be two of them. But I’ve not seen Mr. Brooklyn with his for a day or two.”
“Try to remember—was he carrying this stick when he went out on Tuesday?”
The porter paused a minute. “Yes, I think he was,” he said. “But, no, you mean in the evening. You’ll have to ask the night porter here that. He was on duty from nine o’clock.”
The inspector turned to the night porter. “Do you recognise this as Mr. Brooklyn’s stick?”