"
"Proceed," said Mr. Carr.
The detective put his note-book in his pocket, and with his elbows still
on the table, pressed his fingers together alternately as he stated his
points, speaking less abruptly than before.
"My conclusion is--the Gordon you spoke to me about was the Gordon who
led the mutiny on board the _Morning Star_; that he never, after that,
came back to England; has never been heard of, in short, by any living
soul in it. That the Gorton employed by Kedge and Reck was another man
altogether. Neither is to be traced; the one may have found his grave in
the sea years ago; the other has disappeared out of London life since
last October, and I can't trace how or where."
Mr. Carr listened in silence. To reiterate that the two men were
identical, would have been waste of time, since he could not avow how
he knew it, or give the faintest clue. The detective himself had
unconsciously furnished a proof.
"Will you tell me your grounds for believing them to be different men?"
he asked.
"Nay," said the keen detective, "the shortest way would be for you to
give me your grounds for thinking them to be the same."
"I cannot do it," said Mr. Carr. "It might involve--no, I cannot do it."
"Well, I suspected so. I don't mind mentioning one or two on my side.
The description of Gorton, as I had it from Kimberly, does not accord
with that of Gordon as given me by his friend the surgeon.
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