Christopher Quarles: College Professor and Master DetectiveBrebner, Percy James
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Christopher Quarles: College Professor and Master Detective
Brebner, Percy James
College teachers -- Fiction; Detective and mystery stories
Two or three days slipped by, days of strenuous work, which seemed
absolutely useless, and then I got a wire from Quarles asking me to
meet him at Chiswick Station that evening, which I did.
"I must apologize, Wigan," was his greeting. "It's my temperament, I
suppose, but I cannot help keeping a line of argument to myself until
I find that it really leads somewhere. This was my theory with regard
to Ewing. Since he did not make friends, either in the bank or out of
it, he was likely to be something of a dreamer. Such men usually are,
unless they have some definite hobby to employ them. We heard of no
such hobby in Ewing's case, and the fact that his rise in the bank had
been rapid suggested a competent and conscientious worker. But he was
a dreamer, all the same--a man looking forward to the future, and a
man who dreams in this way usually looks forward to some definite
point. In the case of a young man--and Ewing is not old--that point
may be a woman. So I examined Ewing's desk. He was given to scribbling
on it and smearing out the writing. There were a quantity of ink
smudges, but some pen marks remained, figures for the most part, and I
found a name--Ursula. That rejoiced me; it might have been Mary, and
for one Ursula there are--well, a great many Marys in the world. I
looked for a second name, dreading to find Smith. I found Ursula
Ewing, that was his dream, Wigan; but I also found Ursula Yerbury. If
he were in love with Ursula Yerbury, which seemed probable, and she
with him, which of course was not certain, then I argued that she must
live in easy distance from Hammersmith. If not, he would have
constantly received letters from her, and we know that he received
very few letters. Also, if they were in love, he might have deceived
her regarding his dismissal, or she would keep his secret and shield
him. Inquiry for her must therefore be made carefully, and I set Zena
to work--a girl looking for a girl friend she had lost sight of. It
proved easier than it might have been. We found there was a man named
Yerbury living in Fulham; he was the third of the name Zena had tried,
and he had a niece, Ursula, living in lodgings here in Chiswick. She
is a typist, and should be home by this time in the evening. She is
expecting an old school friend--that was the vague message Zena left
with her landlady--she will see us."
"I congratulate you, professor; it looks as if you had got on Ewing's
track."
"We shall know better in an hour's time," he answered. "No. 10 Old
Cedar Lane is the address. Pleasant flavor in some of these Chiswick
names."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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