"Nonsense! Why shouldn't you have it? But I didn't come round here solely
to talk about stamps, Rolfe. I came to have a little chat about the
Riversbrook case. How are you getting on with it?"
"Why, really," said Rolfe, "I've not done much with it since, since--"
"Since Birchill was acquitted, eh! But you are not letting it drop
altogether, are you? That would be a pity--such an interesting case.
Whom have you your eye on now as the right man?"
Rolfe, who thought he detected a suspicion of banter in Crewe's
remarks, evaded the latter question by answering the first part of
Crewe's inquiry.
"Why hardly that, Mr. Crewe. But the chief is not very keen on the case.
Birchill's acquittal was too much of a blow to him. He reckons that
nowadays juries are too soft-hearted to convict on a capital charge."
"It's just as well that they are too soft-hearted to convict the wrong
man," said Crewe.
"Yes; you told me from the first that we were on the wrong track," was
the reply. "I haven't forgotten that and the chief is not allowed to
forget it, either. All the men at the Yard know that you held the
opinion that we had got hold of the wrong man when we arrested Birchill,
and he has had to stand so much chaff in the office, that he's pretty raw
about it.
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