“Well, yes, I do remember something of him. We had an argument about the ring. He wanted five pounds on it, and I wouldn’t give it.”
“What kind of fellow was he?” I asked, explaining that I had bought the tickets from a third person.
“Oh, youngish—with a short brown beard. Evidently a gentleman who was hard up. We get lots of them in here.”
A brown beard! Had he shaved and disguised himself before his interview with Tibbie?
“Tall?” I asked.
“No. Not very.”
The description did not answer to that of the dead unknown.
“A stranger?”
“Quite. I’d never seen him before. But the truth is I recollect him because that ruby there is a valuable one. I had my doubts at the moment as to its genuineness, and as there were a lot of people waiting I had no time to examine it. So I lent him only a couple o’ quid on it.”
“Then it’s worth more?”