But Mr. Carr was cautious, and betrayed
nothing.
"I am sorry to have troubled you," he said. "When I inquired for you of
Kedge and Reck some years ago, it was under the impression that you were
some one else. You had left; and they did not know where to find you."
"Yes, I had displeased them through arresting a wrong man, and other
things. I was down in the world then, and glad to do anything for a
living, even to serving writs."
"You arrested the late Lord Hartledon for his brother," observed Mr.
Carr, with a careless smile. "I heard of it. I suppose you did not know
them apart."
"I had never set eyes on either of them before," returned Gorton;
unconsciously confirming a point in the barrister's mind; which, however,
was already sufficiently obvious.
"The man I wanted to find was named Gordon. I thought it just possible
that you might have changed your name temporarily: some of us finding it
convenient to do so on occasion."
"I never changed mine in my life."
"And if you had, I don't suppose you'd have changed it to one so
notorious as George Gordon."
"Notorious?"
"It was a George Gordon who was the hero of that piratical affair; that
mutiny on board the _Morning Star_."
"Ah, to be sure. And an awful villain too! A man I met in Australia knew
Gordon well. But he tells a curious tale, though. He was a doctor, that
Gordon; had come last from somewhere in Kirkcudbrightshire.
Pages:
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500
501
502
503
504
505
506
507
508
509
510