“I noticed nothing strange. The gentleman told me to drive along Pall Mall and the Haymarket, or of course I’d ’ave taken the proper route, up Charin’ Cross Road and Leicester Square.”
“You would recognise this gentleman again, I suppose?” the Coroner asked.
“I’d know him among a thousand,” the man promptly replied.
Inspector Elmes, who was present on behalf of the Criminal Investigation Department, asked several questions through the Coroner, when the latter afterwards resumed his cross-examination.
“You have told us,” he said, “that just before entering the cab the gentleman was accosted by a friend. Did you overhear any of their conversation?”
“I heard the missing man address the other as ‘Major,’” the cabman replied. “He introduced the Major to the lady, but I was unable to catch either of their names. The two men seemed very glad to meet, but, on the other hand, my gentleman seemed in a great hurry to get away.”
“You are certain that this man you know as the Major did not arrive by the same train, eh?” asked the Coroner, glancing sharply up from the paper whereon he was writing the depositions of this important witness.
“I am certain; for I noticed him lounging up and down the platform fully ’arf an hour before the train came in.”
“Then you think he must have been awaiting his friend?”
“No doubt he was, sir, for as soon as I drove the lady and gentleman away, he, too, started to walk out of the station.”