Morrison has been getting into a bit of trouble.""We won't discuss that," Laverick answered. "You must either go away - it's past nine o'clock and I haven't had my dinner yet - or you must treat me as you would Mr. Morrison."The man looked upon the carpet for several moments.
"Very well, sir," he said, "there's no great reason why I should put myself out about this at all. The only thing is - "He hesitated.
"Well, go on," Laverick said encouragingly.
"I think," the man continued, "that Mr. Morrison - knowing, as Iwell do, sir, the sort of gent he is - would be more likely to talk common sense with me about this matter than you, sir.""I'll imagine I'm Morrison, for the moment," Laverick said smiling, "especially as I'm acting for him."The man looked around the room. The door behind had been left ajar.
He stepped backward and closed it.
"You'll pardon the liberty, sir," he said, "but this is a serious matter I'm going to speak about. I'll just tell you a little thing and you can form your own conclusions. Last night we was open late at the 'Black Post.' We keep open, sir, as you know, when you gentlemen at the Stock Exchange are busy. About nine o'clock there was a strange customer came in. He had two drinks and he sat as though he were waiting. In about 'arf-an-hour another gent came in, and they went into a corner together and seemed to be doing some sort of business. Anyways, there was papers passed between them. I was fairly busy about then, as there were one or two more customers in the place, but I noticed these two talking together, and I noticed the dark gentleman leave. The others went out a few minutes afterwards, and the gent who had come first was alone in the place.
He sat in the corner and he had a pocket-book on the table before him. I had a sort of casual glance at it when I brought him a drink, and it seemed to me that it was full of bank-notes. He sat there just like a man extra deep in thought. Just after eleven, in came Mr. Morrison. I could see he was rare and put out, for he was white, and shaking all over. 'Give me a drink, Jim,' he said, - 'a big brandy and soda, big as you make 'em."'
The man paused for a moment as though to collect himself. Laverick was suddenly conscious of a strange thrill creeping through his pulses.
"Go on," he said. "That was after he left me. Go on.""He was quite close to the other gent, Mr. Morrison was," the waiter continued, "but they didn't say nowt to each other. All of a sudden I see Mr. Morrison set down his glass and stare at the other chap as though he'd seen something that had given him a turn. I leaned over the counter and had a look, too. There he sat - this tall, fair chap who had been in the place so long - with his big pocket-book on the table in front of him, and even from where I was I could see that there was a great pile of bank-notes sticking out from it. All of a sudden he looks up and sees Mr. Morrison a-watching him and me from behind the counter. Back he whisks the pocket-book into his pocket, calls me for my bill, gives me two mouldy pennies for a tip, buttons up his coat and walks out.""You know who he was?" Laverick inquired.
Again the waiter paused for a moment before he answered - paused and looked nervously around the room. His voice shook.
"He was the man as was murdered about a hundred yards off the 'Black Post' last night, sir," he said.
"How do you know?" Laverick asked.
