We then spoke of the London reference which Mr. Mollison had given him, and he produced the letter he had received in reply to his own. It was signed "R. Lambert," and addressed, 214 Adelaide Road, N. W. From subsequent inquiries I learned that this house had been inhabited for only a few weeks during the last six or seven years, and then not by a person of the name of Lambert. Now, I do not profess to be an expert in handwriting, but placing F. Lambert's letter by the side of Maxwell's, which I had taken from John Fordham's desk, a certain resemblance (by no means perfect) forced itself upon my attention. Accompanied by the agent, I went to the office of an expert, who partially confirmed my suspicion, but declined to pledge himself to it without a more minute examination. I left the letters with him, and directed him to forward them to London with his report. This was one of the clues I obtained during my brief stay in Liverpool. The more important one (which led to a startling result) was obtained in the following manner: On our way from the office of the expert in handwriting to that of the agent, the latter mentioned that, although he had seen Mr. Mollison only once, a clerk in his employ had met him in the street after the house was taken. Without delay I interviewed this clerk, who admitted that he had seen Mr. Mollison a fortnight after the agreement was signed. Having taken no particular notice of that gentleman, he could furnish me with no better description of him than his master had supplied, except that he looked like a gentleman. "Which was more than the man who was with him did," he added. "Oh," I said, "he was not alone?" "No," was the reply, "he was walking with a friend." "With a friend?" I said. "Though one was a gentleman and the other was not?" "Well, I suppose they were friends, because they were laughing at something." "What did the other man look like?" "A common sort of man; but he was dressed well enough. I can't say he seemed easy in his clothes." "What made you notice him particularly?" "As I came up to them Mr. Mollison said, 'You did it cleverly, Jack.' 'Oh, I can show 'em a trick or two,' said the man he called Jack; and then they burst out laughing. That made me turn round and look at the clever one." "What did you notice in him?" "That his face was pock-marked, and that he had a club foot." "Was he tall or short?" "Short." "Did they see you looking at them?" "I think so, because just then they turned the other way." "And did you not follow them?" "What should I follow them for?" I pressed him hard, but he could tell me nothing more.