'You are quite sure,' asked George, 'that you did not sign that cheque?'
'I am perfectly certain that I did not.'
'Then as for this Edmund Gray of 22 South Square, Gray's Inn—what do you know about him?'
'Nothing at all—absolutely nothing.'
'I know something,' said Checkley. 'But go on—go on.'
'He may be a non-existent person, for what you know.'
'Certainly. I know nothing about any Edmund Gray.'
'Wait a bit,' murmured Checkley.
'Well, but'—Mr. Ellis went on—'this was only a beginning. In March you wrote to me again; that is to say, I received a letter purporting to be from you. In this letter—here it is—you instructed me to transfer certain stock—the papers of which you enclosed—amounting to about 12,000l.—to Edmund Gray aforesaid. In the same way as before the transfer papers were sent to you for signature: in the same way as before they were signed and returned: and in the same way as before the commission was charged to you and paid by you. It was exactly the same transaction as before—only for double the sum involved in the February business.'
Mr. Dering took the second letter and looked at it with a kind of patient resignation. 'I know nothing about it,' he said—'nothing at all.'