"Don't make too sure, White," said the sergeant, with one of his wise nods. "He who came might have turned out to be just as familiar to you as Mr. Halliburton, if he had let you see his face. The fact is, White, there's some one going about with a cloak like this, and we want to find out who it is. Mr. Halliburton would give a pound out of his pocket, I'm sure, to know."
"I'd give two," said Mr. Ashley, with a smile.
"Sir," asked the butcher of Mr. Ashley, "what about the money? Shall I lose it?"
"Now, White, just wait a bit," put in the sergeant. "If it was a gentleman that changed it, perhaps we shall get it out of him. Any way, you keep quiet."
They left the shop—standing a moment together before parting. The sergeant's road lay one way; Mr. Ashley's and William's another. "This only makes the matter more obscure," observed Mr. Ashley, alluding to what had passed.
"Not at all. It makes it all the more clear," was the cool reply of the sergeant.
"White says the man was shorter than Mr. Halliburton."
"It's just what I expected him to say," nodded the sergeant. "If I am on the right scent—and I'd lay a thousand pound on it!—the man who changed the cheque is shorter. I just wanted White's evidence on the point," he added, looking at William; "and that is why I asked you to come down, dressed in your cloak. Good night, gentlemen."
He turned up the Shambles. And Mr. Ashley and William walked away side by side.