'Sometimes,' he replied. 'We are very old friends. Though his views are narrow.--Where is he?' He looked about the room. 'You are all waiting to see him? He will be here directly. He is always here about this time.' 'Yes, directly. You remember what I said to you on Sunday concerning certain transactions? I told you how important it was to have the exact truth about them.' 'Certainly. I remember. I wrote an account of them for you.' 'You did. Are these papers what you wrote?' He looked at them for a moment. 'These are my papers,' he said. 'They are what I wrote at your request. They contain a perfectly true account of what happened.' 'Now, before I go on, you will not mind--these people here do not know Mr. Edmund Gray--you will not mind my asking a few persons to testify that you are really Mr. Edmund Gray?' 'My dear child, ask all the world if you wish; though I do not understand why my identity should be doubted.' 'Not quite all the world.--Mr. Carstone, will you tell us the name of this gentleman?' 'He is Mr. Edmund Gray, my neighbour at No. 22 South Square, Gray's Inn.' Mr. Edmund Gray inclined his head and smiled. George went outside and returned, followed by a small company, who, in answer to Elsie, stepped forward one after the other and made answer. Said one: 'I am the landlord of the rooms at 22 South Square tenanted by Mr. Edmund Gray. He has held the rooms for ten years. This gentleman is Mr. Edmund Gray, my tenant.' Said another: 'I am a barrister, and the tenant of the rooms above those held by Mr. Edmund Gray. I have known him--more or less--for ten years. This gentleman is Mr. Edmund Gray.' Said a third: 'I am a commissionaire. I remember this gentleman very well, though it is eight years since he employed me, and only for one job then. I went from an hotel in Arundel Street, Strand, to a bank with a cheque which I was to cash for him in ten-pound notes. He gave me half a sovereign.' 'Quite so,' said Mr. Edmund Gray. 'I remember you, too. It was a cheque for seven hundred and twenty pounds, the particulars of which you have in my statement, Elsie. I well remember this one-armed commissionaire.' And a fourth: 'I am the laundress who does for Mr. Edmund Gray. I have done for him for ten years. This gentleman is Mr. Edmund Gray.' And a fifth: 'I am a news-agent, and I have a shop at the entrance of Gray's Inn. This gentleman is Mr. Edmund Gray, of 22 South Square. I have known him in the Inn for ten years.' To each in turn Mr. Dering nodded with a kindly smile. 'Athelstan,' said Elsie, 'will you tell us when and where you have met Mr. Edmund Gray?' 'I met him last week in Carstone's rooms on the same landing. He sat with us for an hour or more.' 'It is quite true,' said Mr. Dering. 'I have had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Arundel on that occasion.' 'I also saw him,' Athelstan continued, 'at a small Lecture Hall at Kentish Town on Sunday evening--yesterday.'