"You would not be taken unaware and find yourself faced with a collapse?"
"Most certainly not." Marner looked at him as if he had let fall some vulgarity at the table.
"You are sure?" Monk pressed him.
"I am more than sure, my dear sir." Now he was quite pained. "I am positive."
"Good." Monk at last allowed the venom to flood into his voice. "That is what I thought. Then you will no doubt be able to tell me how the disaster occurred that ruined Major Joscelin Grey's investment in the same commodity. You were connected with it."
Marner's face paled and for a moment he was confused to find words.
"I-er-assure you, you need have no anxiety as to its happening again," he said, avoiding Monk's eyes, then looking very directly at him, to cover the lie of intent.
"That is good," Monk answered him coolly. "But hardly of more than the barest comfort now. It has cost two lives already. Was there much of your own money lost, Mr. Marner?"
"Much of mine?" Marner looked startled.
"I understand Major Grey lost a considerable sum?"
"Oh-no. No, you are misinformed." Marner shook his head and his white hair bounced over his ears. "The company did not precisely fail. Oh dear me no. It simply transferred its operation; it was taken over. If you are not a man of affairs, you could not be expected to understand. Business is highly complicated these days, Mr. Monk."
"It would seem so. And you say Major Grey did not lose a great deal of his own money? Can you substantiate that in any way?"
"I could, of course." The smug veils came over Mar-ner's eyes again. "But Major Grey's affairs are his own, of course, and I should not discuss his affairs with you, any more than I should dream of discussing yours with him. The essence of good business is discretion, sir." He smiled, pleased with himself, his composure at least in part regained.
"Naturally," Monk agreed. "But I am from the police, and am investigating Major Grey's murder, therefore I am in a different category from the merely inquisitive." He lowered his voice and it became peculiarly menacing. He saw Marner's face tighten. "And as a law-abiding man," he continued, "I am sure you will be only too happy to give me every assistance you can. I should like to see your records in the matter. Precisely how much did Major Grey lose, Mr. Marner, to the guinea, if you please?"
Marner's chin came up sharply; his eyes were hot and offended.
"The police? You said you wanted to make an investment. ''
"No, I did not say that-you assumed it. How much did Joscelin Grey lose, Mr. Marner?"
"Oh, well, to the guinea, Mr. Monk, he-he did not lose any."
"But the company dissolved."
"Yes-yes, that is true; it was most unfortunate. But Major Grey withdrew his own investment at the last moment, just before the-the takeover."
Monk remembered the policeman from whom he had learned Marner's address. If he had been after Marner for years, let him have the satisfaction of taking him now.
"Oh." Monk sat back, altering his whole attitude, almost smiling. "So he was not really concerned in the loss?"
"No, not at all."
Monk stood up.
"Then it hardly constitutes a part of his murder. I'm sorry to have wasted your time, Mr. Marner. And I thank you for your cooperation. You do, of course, have some papers to prove this, just for my superiors?"
"Yes. Yes, I have." Marner relaxed visibly. "If you care to wait for a moment-" He stood up from his desk and went to a large cabinet of files. He pulled a drawer and took out a small notebook ruled in ledger fashion. He put it, open, on the desk in front of Monk.
Monk picked it up, glanced at it, read the entry where Grey had withdrawn his money, and snapped it shut.
"Thank you." He put the book in the inside pocket of his coat and stood up.
Marner's hand came forward for the return of the book. He realized he was not going to get it, debated in his mind whether to demand it or not, and decided it would raise more interest in the subject than he could yet affordt He forced a smile, a sickly thing in his great white face.
"Always happy to be of service, sir. Where should we be without the police? So much crime these days, so much violence."
"Indeed," Monk agreed. "And so much theft that breeds violence. Good day, Mr.