“Yet I have seen a man whose face closely resembled that portrait you showed us last night.”
“Where?”
“In St Ann’s Road, close to St James’s Road. I strolled along it by chance this morning, after visiting the scene of the murder, and, coming out of one of the houses, I saw this man.”
“Yes?”
“I followed him to the High Street. There he got on to a motor-omnibus and I lost him.”
“You lost him!”
“It was not my fault, for I could not stop the omnibus and there were no cabs.”
“It does not in the least matter,” said Freyberger, in a tone of assumed indifference, “for it was a thousand to one you were mistaken.”
“If that is your opinion,” said Hellier, angry at the other’s tone, “there is no use in our discussing the matter further. I wish you good day.”
“Stay a moment,” said Freyberger.