He used
to come here a good deal, you know."
"Do you think you'd know him again, Portlethwaite, after all these
years?" asked Mr. Carless. "Thirty-five years, mind!"
The elderly clerk smiled--more assuredly than before. Then he looked
significantly at a corner of the room, and Mr. Carless took the hint, and
rising from his chair, went aside with him. Portlethwaite whispered
something in his employer's ear, and Carless suddenly laughed and nodded.
"To be sure--to be sure--I remember now!" he said aloud. "Thank you,
Portlethwaite: that's all. Well, gentlemen," he continued, returning to
his desk when the clerk had gone. "I think the best thing you can do is
to bring your client here--if he is the real and genuine article, he
will, I am sure, be very glad indeed to meet three persons who knew him
quite intimately in the old days--Mr. Driver, Mr. Portlethwaite and
myself. And I really don't know that there's any more to do or say."
The two visitors rose, and Methley looked at Mr. Carless in a
questioning fashion.
"Am I to go away with the impression that you believe our client to be an
impostor?" he said quietly.
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