fpenny.

"Quite so, but we haven't heard of any transaction being carried out
during that time. Make inquiry, and see if he did engage in any such
transaction," said the Professor. "If he didn't, then my theory that he
had the notes on him is correct. Moreover, Barthorpe has told Selwood
that he picked up one note from the desk in his uncle's private room."

"One note!" exclaimed Mr. Halfpenny.

"One note--quite so," agreed the Professor. "May it not have been--it's
all theory, of course--that Jacob had all the notes on the desk when he
was murdered, that the murderer grabbed them afterwards, and in his
haste, left one? Come, now!"

"Theory--theory!" said Mr. Halfpenny. "Still, I'll make inquiries all
around, to see if Jacob did pay five thousand away to anybody that
afternoon. Well, and your other point?"

"I should like to know what the cheque for three thousand guineas was
for," answered the Professor. "It was paid out to one Luigi Dimambro,
whose address was written down by himself in endorsing the cheque as
Hotel Ravenna, Soho. He, presumably, is a foreigner, an Italian, or a
Corsican, or a Sicilian, and the probability is that Jacob Herapath
bought something from him that day, and that the transaction took place
after banking hours."

"How do you deduce that?" asked Mr. Halfpenny.

"Because Dimambro cashed his cheque as soon as the bank opened its doors
next morning," answered the Professor. "If he'd been given the cheque
before four o'clock on November 12th, he'd have cashed it then."

"The cheque may have been posted to him," said Mr. Halfpenny.

"May be; the point is that it was drawn by Jacob on November 12th and
cashed at the earliest possible hour next day," replied the Professor.
"Now, though it may have nothing to do with the case, I want to know
what that cheque referred to. More than this, I have an idea. May not
this man Dimambro be the man who called on Jacob Herapath at the House
of Commons that night--the man whom Mountain saw, but did not recognize
as one of his master's usual friends or acquaintances? Do you see that
point?"

Mr. Tertius and Selwood muttered expressions of acquiescence, but Mr.
Halfpenny shook his head.

"Can't see anything much in it," he said. "If this foreign fellow,
Dimambro, was the man who called at the House, I don't see what that's got
to do with the murder. Jacob Herapath, of course, had business affairs
with all sorts of queer people--Italians, Spaniards, Chi