n, none of them has entrusted Samuel with anything like so
large a quantity of diamonds as he talks of--lately, at any rate."

"Isn't it possible that the diamonds are purely imaginary?" I suggested.
"Mightn't there be some trick played on that basis? Perhaps a trick on
the American customer--if there was one."

Hewitt was thoughtful. "There are many possibilities," he said, "which I
must consider. The diamonds may even be stolen property to begin with;
that would account for a great deal, though perhaps not all. But the
whole thing is so oddly suspicious, that unless my client is willing to
let me a great deal further into his confidence to-morrow morning I
shall throw up the case."

"Did you direct any inquiries after Denson?"

"Of course; which brings me to the other things I have ascertained. He
has not been here long--a few months. I cannot find that he has been
doing any particular business all the time with anybody except Samuel.
With him, however, he seems to have been very friendly. The housekeeper
speaks of them as being 'very thick together.' The rooms are cheaply
furnished, as you see. And here is another thing to consider. The
housekeeper vows that he never left his glass box at the foot of the
stairs from the time Samuel went upstairs first to the time when he came
down again, vastly agitated, at a quarter-past one, and sent a message;
and during all that time _Denson never passed the box_! And the main
door is the only way out."

"But wasn't he there at all?"

"Yes, he was there, certainly, when Samuel came. But note, now. Observe
the sequence of things as we know them now. First, there is Denson in
his office; I can find nothing of any American visitor, and I am
convinced that he is a total fiction, either of Denson's or Samuel and
Denson together. Denson is in his office. To him comes Samuel. Neither
leaves the place till Samuel comes down at a quarter-past one o'clock. I
told you he sent some sort of message. The housekeeper tells me that he
called a passing commissionaire and gave him something, though whether
it was a telegram or a note he did not see; nor does he know the
commissionaire, nor his number--though he could easily be found if it
became necessary, no doubt. Samuel sends the message, and waits on the
steps, watching, in an agitated manner (as would be natural, perhaps, in
a man engaged in an anxious and ticklish piece of illegality) for an
hour, when this mysterious brougham appears.