"What are you speculating about?" asked Starmidge.
"This—on information received," replied Easleby, as he lifted his tankard. "There are the names of three Scarnham gentlemen before me—Gabriel Chestermarke, Joseph Chestermarke, John Horbury. Now, then—which of the three sports the other name of Godwin Markham?"
CHAPTER XXII
SPECULATION—AND CERTAINTY
Starmidge ate and drank in silence for awhile, evidently pondering his companion's question.
"Yes," he said at last, "there's all that in it. It may be any one of the three. You never know! Yet, according to all I've been told, Horbury's a thoroughly straight man of business."
"According to all I've been told," remarked Easleby, "and all I've been told about anything has been told by yourself, the two Chestermarkes have the reputation of being thoroughly straight men of business—outwardly. But one thing is certain, my lad, after what we've just learned—Hollis went down to Scarnham to offer that cheque to one of these three men. And whichever it was, that man's Godwin Markham! It's a double-life business, Jack—the man's Godwin Markham here in London, and he's somebody else in—somewhere else. Dead certainty, my lad!"
"It's not Horbury," said Starmidge, after some reflection. "I'll stake my reputation, such as it is, on that!"
"You don't know," replied Easleby. "Remember, Mrs. Lester said this son of hers always did business with a manager. That's a usual thing with these big money-lending offices—the real man doesn't show. For aught you know, Horbury may have been running a money-lender's office in town, unknown to anybody, under the name of Godwin Markham. And—he may have wanted new funds for it, and he may have collared those securities which the Chestermarkes say are missing, and he may have appropriated Lord Ellersdeane's jewels—d'ye see? You never can tell—in any of these cases. You see, my lad, you've been going, all along, on the basis, the supposition, that Horbury's an innocent man, and the victim of foul play. But—he may be a guilty man! Lord bless you!—I don't attach any importance to reputation and character, not I! It isn't ten years since Jim Chambers and myself had a case in point—a bank manager who was churchwarden, Sunday-School teacher, this, that, and t'other in the way of piety and respectability—all a cloak to cover as clever a bit of thievery and fraud as ever I heard of!—he got ten years, that chap, and he ought to have been hanged. As I say, you never can make certain. Hollis may have found out that Godwin Markham of Conduit Street was in reality John Horbury of Scarnham, and then——"