“That’s the way things was when I seen him begin to make arrangements to get away from town.  It wasn’t supposed to be none of my business and Mr. Warren never was a feller I could ask questions of.  When he had something to tell me, he told it—­an’ I never got nothin’ out of him by askin’.  But, bein’ his valet, there was certain things I couldn’t very well miss knowin’.  I know his apartment is sublet for the new tenants to come in on the first of the month, he placed his car with a dealer to be sold and he didn’t order a new one an’ he drew a whole heap of cash out of the bank the day before he was killed.

“Also that day he sent me downtown to do some shoppin’.  While I was downtown I seen him go into the railroad ticket office.  I didn’t pay much attention to that then and later on he drove by the house for a minute.  I had taken his laprobe out of the car the night before and forgot to put it back—­so I thought I’d better do it.  I went downstairs without his knowing it—­and when I put the laprobe in the car I seen he had a suit-case in there.  An’ the suit-case wasn’t his, sir—­the initials on it was N.L.—­which, if you know, sir—­Mrs. Lawrence’s name is Naomi.

“That made things pretty clear to me then.  He drove off and come back about a half hour later.  I looked when he come back and the suit-case wasn’t in the car no more.  And it was then that he handed me a big wad of wages in advance and told me he wasn’t going to need me no more and I could quit any time after five o’clock in the afternoon.”

Barker paused, lighted another cigarette from the stump of the one he had been smoking—­inhaled a great puff, and continued.  His manner was that of a man under great mental stress—­as though he was struggling to recall every infinitesimal detail which might possibly have a bearing on the case.

“That sort of carries me along to the night, sir—­as I left there at five o’clock and he was still there—­tellin’ me goodbye and givin’ me an excellent reference and sayin’ I was a good valet an’ all like that, sir.

“After leavin’ there I went out and got some supper, and then I went up to Kelly’s place and horned into an open game of pool.  You know Kelly’s place is pretty close to the Union Station and when it come about ten o’clock I got tired and went an’ sat down in the corner, eatin’ a hot dog from the stand in Kelly’s—­an’ then I sort of got to thinkin’ things over.

“An’ thinkin’ things over that way, Mr. Carroll—­I began to think that Mrs. Lawrence was doin’ a terrible foolish thing, and I was kinder sorry about it.  Now don’t get no idea that I’m wantin’ you to believe I got a soft heart or anythin’ like that—­but then I sort of liked Mr. Warren and I knew Mrs. Lawrence was a decent woman—­and I knew once she got on the train with Mr. Warren she was done for.  And when I got to thinkin’ about that, sir—­it struck me that maybe somethin’ could be done to keep ’em from eloping with each other that way.  Not that I was plannin’ to do anything—­but curiosity sort of got me, and along about eleven o’clock or a little while after I went out of Kelly’s and up to the Union Station.  I sat down over in the corner and waited for somethin’ to happen—­sort of hopin’ maybe I had been wrong all the time and there wasn’t going to be no elopement.