Читать книгу Charles Peace, or The Adventures of a Notorious Burglar онлайн

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Mr. Wrench was a man who pursued his inquiries with the greatest pertinacity; he was not accustomed to let the “grass grow under his feet.”

It was a maxim of his, and one indeed the truth of which had been made manifest, that “you sometimes obtain the most valuable information from a source which appeared at first glance the most unlikely to be fruitful.”

It occurred to him that it would be quite as well to interrogate our hero before he (the detective) proceeded to the other towns visited by the missing pair. Possibly the itinerant frame-maker might have some knowledge of the person or persons of whom he was in search; anyway there would be no harm in putting the question to him.

“Who knows—” murmured Mr. Wrench, as he took his way along the lane—​“who knows but this fellow—​who, it would appear, is a sort of Admirable Crichton, in his way, if one is to believe the landlord of the ‘Lion’—​may not have come across someone in his various wanderings who may have been acquainted with the Italian professor, who was a musician? It is certain that, to a certain extent, the picture chap is a musician—​so here goes for it.”