doubtful Dionysius and Baxter's
recommendation he immediately assumed that some mistake had been made.
Either Max was not the Wynn Carrados he had been seeking or else the
dealer had been misinformed; for although his host was wonderfully
expert in the face of his misfortune, it was inconceivable that he
could decide the genuineness of a coin without seeing it. The
opportunity seemed a good one of getting even with Carrados by taking
him at his word.

"Yes," he accordingly replied, with crisp deliberation, as he
re-crossed the room; "yes, I will, Max. Here is the clue to what seems
to be a rather remarkable fraud." He put the tetradrachm into his
host's hand. "What do you make of it?"

For a few seconds Carrados handled the piece with the delicate
manipulation of his finger-tips while Carlyle looked on with a
self-appreciative grin. Then with equal gravity the blind man weighed
the coin in the balance of his hand. Finally he touched it with his
tongue.

"Well?" demanded the other.

"Of course I have not much to go on, and if I was more fully in your
confidence I might come to another conclusion----"

"Yes, yes," interposed Carlyle, with amused encouragement.

"Then I should advise you to arrest the parlourmaid, Nina Brun,
communicate with the police authorities of Padua for particulars of
the career of Helene Brunesi, and suggest to Lord Seastoke that he
should return to London to see what further depredations have been
made in his cabinet."

Mr. Carlyle's groping hand sought and found a chair, on to which he
dropped blankly. His eyes were unable to detach themselves for a
single moment from the very ordinary spectacle of Mr. Carrados's
mildly benevolent face, while the sterilized ghost of his now
forgotten amusement still lingered about his features.

"Good heavens!" he managed to articulate, "how do you know?"

"Isn't that what you wanted of me?" asked Carrados suavely.

"Don't humbug, Max," said Carlyle severely. "This is no joke." An
undefined mistrust of his own powers suddenly possessed him in the
presence of this mystery. "How do you come to know of Nina Brun and
Lord Seastoke?"

"You are a detective, Louis," replied Carrados. "How does one know
these things? By using one's eyes and putting two and two together."

Carlyle groaned and flung out an arm petulantly.

"Is it all bunkum, Max? Do you really see all the time--though that
doesn't go very far towards explaining it."

"Like Vidal, I see v