asked Hurd, amiably.

The legal monkey hopped into the next room and beckoned Hurd to follow.
Shortly the two were looking into the interior of a safe wherein reposed
four bags of coarse white canvas sealed and tied with stout cords. "The
odd thing is," said Mr. Pash, chewing his words, and looking so absurdly
like a monkey that the detective felt inclined to call him "Jacko,"
"that on the morning of the murder, and before I heard anything about
it, a stranger came with a note from my esteemed client asking that the
bags should be handed over."

"What sort of a man?"

"Well," said Pash, fiddling with his sharp chin, "what you might call a
seafaring man. A sailor, maybe, would be the best term. He was stout and
red-faced, but with drink rather than with weather, I should think, and
he rolled on his bow-legs in a somewhat nautical way."

"What name did he give?" asked Hurd, writing this description rapidly in
his note-book.

"None. I asked him who he was, and he told me--with many oaths I regret
to say--to mind my own business. He insisted on having the bags to take
back to Mr. Norman, but I doubted him--oh, yes," added the lawyer,
shrewdly, "I doubted him. Mr. Norman always did his own business, and
never, in my experience of him, employed a deputy. I replied to the
unknown nautical man--a sailor--as you might say; he certainly smelt of
rum, which, as we know, is a nautical drink--well, Mr. Hurd, I replied
that I would take the bags round to Mr. Norman myself and at once. This
office is in Chancery Lane, as you see, and not far from Gwynne Street,
so I started with the bags."

"And with the nautical gentleman?"

"No. He said he would remain behind until I returned, so as to receive
my apology when I had seen my esteemed client and become convinced of
the nautical gentleman's rectitude. When I reached Gwynne Street I found
that Mr. Norman was dead, and at once took the bags back to replace them
in this safe, where you now behold them."

"And this sailor?" asked Hurd, eyeing Mr. Pash keenly.

The lawyer sucked in his cheeks and put his feet on the rungs of his
chair. "Oh, my clerk tells me he left within five minutes of my
departure, saying he could not wait."

"Have you seen him since?"

"I have not seen him since. But I am glad that I saved the property of
my client."

"Was Norman rich?"

"Very well off indeed, but he did not make his money out of his
book-selling business. In fact," said Pash, putting