"Mr. Pasinsky went out about one o'clock and hasn't been back since," the clerk replied as he
handed Abe over to a bell-boy. Fifteen minutes later Abe descended from his room with the marks of travel almost effaced, and again inquired for Marks Pasinsky.
"He ain't been back since, Mr. Potash," said the clerk.
"He didn't go out with nobody. No?" Abe asked.
"I think he went out with a short, dark gentleman," the clerk answered.
Abe pondered for a moment. Simon Kuhner stood full six feet tall and was a decided blond, while Chester Prosnauer, whom he knew by sight only, was as large as Marks Pasinsky himself.
"Who could that be, I wonder?" Abe murmured.
"It was a gentleman staying over at the Altringham," the clerk said.
"Then it couldn't be them," Abe concluded. "If Pasinsky comes back you should please tell him to wait. I will be back here at six, sure."
He made immediately for the business premises of Mandleberger Brothers & Co., where he found Simon Kuhner hard at work in his office.