"I have known of the matter of the Whistler portrait," said he, "but I
never knew anything more about it than what I read in the newspapers.
It happened before my time."
"I'm not accusing you," said Stillman. "I'm asking you about Hume's
friends."
The clerk considered.
"There was no one that I ever saw or heard of that you could call his
friend, exactly," said he at length. "He made game of people too much
to have any I guess."
"Had he no associates--no one with whom he spent his time?"
Brolatsky shook his head.
"Perhaps so; but then I was only in Christie Place during business
hours. I have heard that he frequently went out at night; but where I
do not know."
"Was there no one who came to visit him while you were there during
the day. No one whom he spoke of in an intimate way?"
Again the clerk shook his head. Stillman began to appear nonplussed.
He looked at the other, pondering and frowning through his glasses.
"Who came most frequently to the store?" he inquired finally.
"Why, I think Antonio Spatola," said Brolatsky.
"Was he a customer?"
The clerk smiled.
"Oh, no. He's a street musician. You may have seen him often about the
city. He plays the violin and carries some trained cockatoos upon a
perch.
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