However, Thorndyke
presently emerged, and he and the officer strode away into the
shrubbery. What the inspector's business was, or whether he had any
business at all, I never learned; but the incident seemed to throw some
light on the presence of Polton and the sailor's hammock. And this
reference to Polton reminds me of a very singular change that took place
about this time in the habits of this usually staid and sedate little
man; who, abandoning the somewhat clerical style of dress that he
ordinarily affected, broke out into a semi-nautical costume, in which he
would sally forth every morning in the direction of Port Marston. And
there, on more than one occasion, I saw him leaning against a post by
the harbour, or lounging outside a waterside tavern in earnest and
amicable conversation with sundry nautical characters.
On the afternoon of the day before the opening of the proceedings we
had two new visitors. One of them, a grey-haired spectacled man, was a
stranger to me, and for some reason I failed to recall his name,
Copland, though I was sure I had heard it before. The other was Anstey,
the barrister who usually worked with Thorndyke in cases that went into
Court.
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