“I think I may, though, strictly speaking, the matter ought to be confidential. Mr. Walter Brooklyn had been trying for some time to get Sir Vernon to pay his debts, as he had done on several previous occasions. This time Sir Vernon handed the matter over to John Prinsep, partly because he was away from town, and partly because he thought he could trust Prinsep to handle the matter more successfully than if he did it himself. Prinsep thereupon saw Walter Brooklyn, and also consulted me. On my advice, he refused to make any payment without a very clear understanding that this was to be the last application. Walter Brooklyn tried all means to get the money without conditions, and in particular refused to disclose in detail what his liabilities were. Prinsep would not give a penny unless his conditions were met. On Tuesday afternoon Walter Brooklyn came down by appointment to see me, and I tried to get him to accept the conditions. He refused, and declared his intention of seeing Prinsep again. I told him he must do what he liked about that. I believe he saw Prinsep. Anyhow, later in the afternoon he came back, and made another attempt to get me to urge that the conditions should be modified. I refused of course, and he left. I have not seen him since.” “So far as you know, he had made no appointment with Prinsep for the evening?” “I know nothing about that. He may have done. He did not tell me.” “When he came back to you the second time, did he tell you that he had lost his walking-stick, and ask if you had found it in the office after he left?” “Yes, I believe he did. It was not here. I said he had probably left it in the taxi.” “And that is all you know about the matter?” “Yes, of course I know something about the extent of Walter Brooklyn’s liabilities. They are considerable.” “We can go into that if it becomes necessary. But can you tell me—would it be likely that, if Walter Brooklyn arranged a meeting with Prinsep about money, George Brooklyn would also have been present? It seems they were both there that evening?” “I should not have expected so; but it is certainly not impossible. Prinsep might have called in George, as he was co-heir to Sir Vernon’s money, to help him make it quite plain that the money would only be paid if the conditions were met. Or, of course, it may have been an accident. George Brooklyn might have been with Prinsep when Walter called. Have you any reason to believe that it was so?” “Well, we know that Walter Brooklyn, although he denies it, was in Prinsep’s room at about 11.30. We know that George Brooklyn left the house at about that time, and he must have come back at some time later to the garden, if not to the house. It seems at least likely that they met either before or after 11.30.” “Yes, that seems probable. But I am afraid I know no more than I have told you.”