"Perhaps so; but then I was only in Christie Place during business hours. I have heard that he frequently went out at night; but where I do not know."
"Was there no one who came to visit him while you were there during the day. No one whom he spoke of in an intimate way?"
Again the clerk shook his head. Stillman began to appear nonplussed. He looked at the other, pondering and frowning through his glasses.
"Who came most frequently to the store?" he inquired finally.
"Why, I think Antonio Spatola," said Brolatsky.
"Was he a customer?"
The clerk smiled.
"Oh, no. He's a street musician. You may have seen him often about the city. He plays the violin and carries some trained cockatoos upon a perch."
"What was the nature of his business at Hume's?"
"If there was anything that Mr. Hume liked better than strong drink," said the clerk, "it was music. Antonio Spatola would come and play to him for hours at a time."