Hollis responded with a little light chaff; suddenly he bent across the bar.
"Hudson!" he said confidentially. "My friend here has something he'd like to show you. Now, then," he continued, as Hetherwick, in response to this, had produced the picture, "do you recognise that?"
The bar-keeper put on a pair of spectacles and turned the picture to the light, examining it closely. His lips tightened; then relaxed in a cynical smile.
"Aye!" he said, half carelessly. "It's the woman that did old Malladale out of that diamond necklace. Of course!—Mistress Whittingham!"
"Would you know her again, if you met her—now?" asked Hollis.
The bar-keeper picked up one of his glasses and began a vigorous polishing.
"Aye!" he answered, laconically. "And I should know her by something else than her face!"
Just then two men came in, and Hudson broke off to attend to their wants. But presently they carried their glasses away to a snug corner near the fire, and the bar-keeper once more turned to Hollis and Hetherwick.
"Aye!" he said confidentially. "If need were, I could tell that party by something else than her face, handsome as that is! I used to tell Hannaford when he was busy trying to find her that if he'd any difficulty about making certain, I could identify her if nobody else could! You see, I saw a deal of her when she was stopping at the 'White Bear.' And I knew something that nobody else knew."
"What is it?" asked Hetherwick.