The Pointing Man

Banker, a man with a solid reputation. If you build a reputation solidly for the first half of a lifetime, it will last the latter half without muc

l him their affairs of the heart, but almost anyone with money to invest would go direct to Craven Joicey. He had no wife, no child, and, as far as anyone knew, no kith or kin, and he had no intimate friends. He had one of those strange, shut faces; a mouth that told nothing, eyes that were nearly as expressionless as the e

had a very small allowance of her own, paid quarterly through a Devonshire bank, but mo

f he had died suddenly, would have made people remember that they always thought him unhealthy-looking. There was nothing, romantic, exciting, or interesting about him; his mind was a huge pass-book, and his brain a network of facts and figures. He p

er, and he had received another visit at his house from the curio dealer. Mhtoon Pah, in a condition bordering upon frenzy, stated that when he had stood on his steps in the morning, intending to go to t

noises as he produced the rag, noises that reminded Hartley irresis

ng it slowly. The Thakin can understand that Absalom still lives, his blood is fresh and red, it is not dead blood that r

ely. "I can't go and arrest Leh Shin on suspicion, becaus

h pointed to the rag that l

t is Absalom's," objected Hartley. "Leave the horrid thin

asped and be

They wind wires around the finger-nails and the toe-nails until they turn black and drop off. Y

ot; he frequently wished tha

Head of the Police and sp

. He kills in the shambles. Oh, it is true. I saw him sl

" said

Leh Shin is unknown. He has secrets. He k

t to hear wh

where Ab

y. "It is a dangerous thing to make these a

loud and held the ra

way from the sight. "There is no use your staying here, and no use your coming, unless there is more of this devil's wo

w him from my place at sunset. I saw him go by like a cat that prowls when night falls and it grows dark. He passed by my wooden image of a

, with a decision and firmness he was far from feeling,

g the kennels of the Chinese quarter, drove the inhabitants of Paradise Street indoors and soused down over the Cantonment gardens, and battered on the travelling carriage of Craven Joi

obability, thinking of money lent out at interest, thinking of careful ledgers and neat rows of figures, and certainly not in the least likely to be thinking of the Chinese quarter, or of a person of so small acc

s only another grain of red dust blown about by the wind of Fate, and though the Rector of St. Jude's might consider that, having been marked by the sig

and the passenger inside were lost from that moment; someone who went for a bicycle ride in England, and was found later selling old clothes in Chicago; someone who went away by train, someone who went away by boat; the world is full of instances, and they are always tinged with the greatest mystery of all mysteries, because they foreshadow t

Banker sat sipping a sherry and bitters under the strong light of the electric lamp. He looked fagged and tired, and though he cheered up

, is there, Joicey?" asked his host.

angadone is low water. There have been a lot of defaulters this year, and even admitting that the place is rich, there is a good

ob was about the most nerve-tattering of any. I had an inter

hat his boy ha

another turn. Many things were bothering Joicey-the financial year generally, a big commercial failure, the outlook for the rice

you at all, personally?" Hartley

r of a lakh." Joicey drummed his square-topped fingers on

ey fr

lague police warned. He must have gone before the warrant

ged his heav

I'm not altogether sorry he got away." His eyes grew full of broodin

red that same night. I wish you could tell me, Joicey, if you saw Heath that evening when you went down Par

splashing a little of the wine on to the front of his white shirt. Joicey did not set the glass back on to the table, he held it between him and the

done that night," his face was dead white with a sick, lep

"It was the policeman on duty at the

't in the place,"

coughed

here, you weren't there

, what did

tand this business, Joicey; directly I ask the smallest question about that

I wasn't here and I don't know what Heath was doin

is former dull apathy, and

is cursed country gets into one's bones if one stays out too long. I've forgotten what England looks like and I've got over the desi

The Banker sat for a little time making a visible effort to talk easily, but

but I'm tired, Hartley, and shall be muc

f exhaustion or ill-health quite a valid on

do it, Joic

rdo

an old, weary man, and yet there was

mnia," sa

ey shortly, and closed the

irm was suffering, if not from insomnia, from something that was heavier than the heaviest night of sleeplessness, and some