“I do not, sir; for I never saw one of them enter this house. Your son never brought any one home with him as I know of. Jacob Poole and he were the only persons who ever were together here while he had my lodgings.”
“Do you happen, then, ever to have heard him mention where any of his companions lived? I mean those persons he used to stay out with at night or in the day?”
“Never, sir.”
“Nor so much as the name of any of his associates?”
“Not once, sir. I fear—that is to say—”
“Speak out, Mrs Jones, pray. You know this may be a matter of life and death to him, and perhaps to us also. Don’t be afraid of wounding us; we want to know everything that can in the least help us in our search.”
“Well, sir, I was going to say, only I hesitated to say so much to my lodger’s own father and mother, that I feared he had got mixed up with companions as wouldn’t be likely to meet him in any private house.”
“I understand you; you think he met his friends, (his companions or associates, I mean), at some common rendezvous or club.”
“Yes, sir; I fear so from all I heard and saw, and from what Mr Poole has said.”
“I fear, then, that you can afford us no information that will help us at present. But here is my card; we shall be staying for some days probably, possibly for some weeks, at the Albion Hotel. Will you kindly, without fail, let us know, and that without loss of time, if you hear or see anything either of our poor son or of Jacob Poole, or of any one who may be able to give us any light or any help in our search?”