married, and the only person who suggested that he had looked in any way
worried recently was the junior clerk, Small."

"What of the woman he was to have married?"

"She was a Miss Lester, and she introduces a complication. Her people
were comparatively poor, her father being a clerk in a City bank. Mr.
Farrell, according to Miss Lester, had helped her father out of some
difficulty, and it was undoubtedly parental persuasion which had arranged
the marriage. It was a case of gratitude rather than love. But that is
not all. At the Lesters' house there was another constant visitor, a
young doctor named Morrison, and he and Farrell became friends in spite
of the fact that they were two angles of a triangle, Ruth Lester being
the third angle. The position was this: Morrison was in love with the
girl, but remained silent because he was too poor to marry; the girl
loved him, but, thinking that he was indifferent, consented to marry
Farrell. Whether Farrell was aware of this it is impossible to say. Now
on the very day of Farrell's death, Dr. Morrison called and asked for him
at the offices in Austin Friars. The clerk took in his name, and was told
by Mr. Delverton that Mr. Farrell had left for the day. This was the
first intimation the clerks had that he had left, and seems an indirect
proof that no one in the office could have had anything to do with the
tragedy. Farrell had been gone about an hour then. Morrison left no
message, merely asked that Mr. Farrell should be told he had called."

"What was Morrison's explanation?" I asked.

"He said Farrell had requested him to call. He was going to give him a
tip for a little flutter in the mining market."