“Once in a very great while. There was one gentleman who came occasionally that I liked very much. He was tall and dark-complexioned, with a pair of excruciating side whiskers.”
The detective smiled to himself, as he recognized in this description Mr. Barnes.
“But he was not the only one?”
“No, there was another, and a very nice man he seemed to be. He never came as much as the first one I spoke about.”
“Can you describe him?”
“Yes. A tallish man, too, rather chunkily built, with a mustache and a goatee.”
That suited Demas Lorton, all but the goatee. This, however, might very easily have been false.
Returning to the charge, the detective inquired:
“Did Miss Doane often go out in the evening?”
“Seldom or never.”