Then Matherfield hurried Quigman away, and the three men left behind looked at each other. Mr. Garrowell was obviously much concerned, and his hands, thin and nervous, trembled as he began to arrange the papers on his desk.
"This is a most distressing business, gentlemen," he said. "It is very painful to me to think that I have been made an instrument in a crime of this sort, however innocent a one! But how could I tell that this letter was forced out of Madame Listorelle? On the face of it----"
"Oh, there's no blame attaching to you, Mr. Garrowell!" interrupted Lord Morradale. "On the face of it, the letter's genuine enough. But I wanted to ask you a question: How much do you know of Madame Listorelle? I mean, how often has she employed you?"
"Two or three times only," replied Garrowell. "She came to me first about an agreement which I had had to send her on behalf of another client. She seemed very friendly, and was kind enough to say that next time she had any legal business she would remember me as she hadn't any regular solicitor of her own. I think," he added with a deprecating smile, "she probably saw that I was beginning, and hadn't much to do."
"I see," said Lord Morradale, looking round at the somewhat humble appointments of the office. "And you've been to that Safe Deposit place on her behalf--how often?"
"Twice. On each occasion Madame Listorelle wrote her instructions from abroad. Once she was in Paris. The other time she was at Nice. The instructions were similar on both occasions: I was to go to the Safe Deposit, get a certain parcel or article and post it to an address given. The first time I sent a small parcel to Amsterdam--I have the exact address and name; the second, to New York. So that, of course, when I got Madame's letter this morning, I saw nothing unusual in it."
"Just so!" agreed Lord Morradale. "You wouldn't. Well, I hope Matherfield will clap the irons on the men who forced her to write it! Eh, Hetherwick?"
"With all my heart!" responded Hetherwick "But I, too, want to ask Mr. Garrowell a question. How long," he continued, "have you been here, in St. Martin's Lane?"
"Oh, four or five years," replied Garrowell.
"Then you know this district pretty well, of course. Have you ever come across a man whom I'll try to describe to you?" He went on to give an accurate, if concise, description of Baseverie. "That man," he concluded, "is sometimes seen around here."