on stared at him hard, and there seemed to be even more caution than
usual in his eye; almost, indeed, a touch of suspicion. The lawyer was
not looking quite as well as usual; there was a drawn look about the
upper part of the face and a hint of strain both in eyes and mouth.

"Why do you want to see Sir Malcolm?" he enquired.

"Well," said Carrington, "the fact of the matter is, Mr. Rattar, that,
as you yourself said, the direct evidence is practically nil, and one is
forced to go a good deal by one's judgment of the people suspected or
concerned."

Simon grunted sceptically.

"Very misleading," he said.

"That depends entirely on one's judgment, or rather on one's instinct
for distinguishing bad eggs from good. As a matter of observation I
don't find that certain types of men and women commit certain actions,
and I do find that they are apt to commit others. And contrariwise with
other types."

"Very unsafe doctrine," said Simon emphatically.

"Extremely--in the hands of any one who doesn't know how to apply it. On
the other hand, it can be made a short and commonsense cut to the truth
in many cases. For instance, the man who suspected Mr. Bisset of
committing the crime would simply be wasting his time and energy, even
if there seemed to be some evidence against him."

"Any man can commit any crime," said Simon dogmatically.

Carrington smiled and shook his head.

"Personally," said he, "if you had a young and pretty wife, I am capable
of running away with her, and possibly even of letting her persuade me
to abscond with some of your property, but I am not capable of laying
you out in cold blood and rifling that safe. And a good judge of men
ought to be able to perceive this and not waste his time in trying to
convict me of an offence I couldn't commit. On the other hand, if the
crime was one that my type is apt to commit he would be a fool to acquit
me off-hand, even if there was next to no evidence against me."

"Then you simply go by your impressions of people?"

"Far from it. A complete absence of motive would force me to acquit even
the most promising looking blackguard, unless of course there were some
form of lunacy in his case. One must have motive and one must have
evidence as well, but character is the short cut--if the circumstances
permit you to use it. Sometimes of course they don't, but in this case
they force me to depend on it very largely. Therefore I want to see Sir
Malcolm Cromarty."