"Has Bede been here to-day?" he asked, carelessly.
"Bede who?"
"Don't you know Bede, the detective?--little gray man with keen eyes and a voice that he keeps behind his teeth. I expected to find him here."
"He was here this morning,--or a man like him," said the clerk. "A detective, you say. Gee!"
"What's up?"
The clerk was looking rather startled. "Well, if I had known he was a detective! He gave out that he was the credit-man for the new furniture store around the corner, and asked about several people in the neighborhood that we have accounts with. Our old man has some stock in the furniture concern, so I gave him all the information I could."
"What accounts did he ask about? Do you remember?"
The clerk named half a dozen. Lyon was not surprised to hear Miss Wolcott's among them. He was both surprised and startled to hear Miss Elliott's.
"What did you tell him about these two?" he asked thoughtfully.
"I let him see their accounts in the ledger."