"Please tell him to bring it in as soon as it is finished."
Burgess nodded and went out. Ashton-Kirk continued to dip into the report here and there.
"Among three of them," said Pendleton, "they should have sifted the man's life and adventures pretty well."
As Ashton-Kirk continued to scan the pages, a peculiar expression slowly came into his eyes.
"They seem to have done so, indeed. And rather cleverly, too, I think. Would you care to hear the report?"
"By all means," eagerly.
The sheets were shifted into their proper order once more. Then Ashton-Kirk read:
"'A Further Investigation into the Affairs of David Purtell Hume.
"'No record was to be had of Hume, beyond his settlement in the city in 1899. People in the same line of business were questioned closely; and those who knew anything of him at all clung to the idea that he was an American who had lived for many years abroad.
"'So we had another look at the old passenger lists of the steamships; but this time we went further back. We knew that the simple ruse of a fictitious name would cover Hume completely; but it seemed the only thing to do, and we set at it systematically. In the records of the steamer Baltic of the Netherlands Steamship Company for the year 1897, we came upon the name of "D. Purtell." Without much hope of learning anything definite after such a lapse of time, I inquired after this passenger.