Rather well educated too, I
think."
Ashton-Kirk thanked the clerk, and the now beaming Mr. Bernstine, and
with Pendleton left the place.
"Well," said Pendleton, as they climbed into the car, "this about
fixes the thing, doesn't it? The musician, Antonio Spatola, is the
guilty man, beyond a doubt."
The investigator settled back after giving the chauffeur his next
stop.
"Beyond a doubt," said he, "is rather an extreme expression. The fact
that the bayonet was purchased by an Italian who gave his address as
Christie Place is not enough to convict Spatola. All sorts of people
live in that street, and there are perhaps other Italians among them."
Pendleton called out to the chauffeur to stop.
"We'll settle that at once," said he. "Spatola's picture is in the
papers. We'll ask the clerk if it is that of the man to whom he sold
the weapon."
But Ashton-Kirk restrained him.
"I thought of the published portraits while Sime was speaking," said
he. "And I also thought that it was very fortunate that neither he nor
his employer were readers of the newspapers."
"How do you know that they are not?"
"If they had read to-day's issues they would have at once connected
the Italian who purchased the bayonet with the one who is said to have
used it--wouldn't they; especially as both Italians lived on the same
street? Bernstine and Sime said nothing because they suspect nothing.
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