The stranger sat down, glanced uneasily round the room, went back to the door, opened and closed it, and returned to his chair. ‘First of all,’ said he, speaking with the voice and manner of a gentleman—a voice and manner not too common among Mr Blackford’s clients—‘I must apologise for presenting myself in this mysterious way. I didn’t give my name to your clerk, for reasons which you will appreciate presently. It is Willoughby—Charles Willoughby—and here is my card. I have also a letter of introduction from my landlord, a client of yours.’
‘I wonder what he’s done?’ was Mr Blackford’s silent comment as he took the proffered letter. ‘Forgery, perhaps, or embezzlement. The last, most likely—if either. I daresay it’s only a trumpery County Court matter, after all.’
The letter simply stated that Mr Willoughby had for the last month occupied rooms in the writer’s house; that he was a very quiet lodger, and quite the gentleman; that he seemed to have plenty of money; that he had asked the writer to recommend a solicitor to him, and that the writer had at once named Mr Blackford; from whom, it was added in conclusion, a fair commission on any profits arising from the introduction would be expected by his zealous client.
‘And what can I do for you, sir?’ once more asked the solicitor, with the increased respect due to a man who was ‘quite the gentleman’ and ‘seemed to have plenty of money.’
The visitor fixed an anxious look on the lawyer, and replied: ‘Well, the fact is, Mr Blackford, that I have of late been greatly worried and annoyed.’
‘I’m sorry to hear that. Not very pleasant in this depressing weather, is it?’
‘It is not, indeed,’ assented the other, with a spasmodic and mirthless laugh, which began and ended in a peculiarly sudden manner.
‘What is the nature of the annoyance?’
The visitor was looking round the room in a bewildered way, and did not seem to hear the question. On its being repeated, he came to himself with a start.
‘The annoyance? Oh, it is just this—that I am being followed about by people who accuse and threaten me in a most unfounded and unjustifiable manner.’