was his clothes. I
was a tailor in Windmill Street before I went in for pawnbroking, and I
_know_. This chap's suit hadn't been 'acked out in the City or in one of
those places in Cheapside where they put notices in the window to say
that the foreman cutter is the only man in the street who gets twelve
quid a week. They hadn't come from Crouch End, neither. They was
first-class West End garments. It's the same with clothes as it is with
thoroughbred hosses and women--you can always tell them, no matter how
they've come down in the world. And it's like that with boots too. This
chap's boots hadn't been cleaned for days, but they were _boots_, and
not holes to put your feet into, like most people wear."

"You made no effort to detain him?"

"How could I? He didn't offer the necklace, or say anything about
jewels, so I had no reason for stopping him. I could see 'e was as
nervous as a lady the whole time he was in the shop, so before I gave
him a shilling for his pencil I marked it with a cross as something to
'elp the police get on his tracks in case he is the man you're after.
When he left I went to my door to see if there was a policeman in sight,
but of course there wasn't. I doubt if he'd have got him, though. He was
off like a shot as soon as he got the shilling--down a side street and
then up another, going towards King's Cross. Here's the pencil-case he
pawned. I didn't bring the weskit, but you can 'ave it if it's any good
to you."

Merrington glanced carelessly at the little silver pencil-case, and
after asking the pawnbroker a few questions he permitted him to depart.
Then he touched his bell and sent for Detective Caldew.

Half an hour later Caldew emerged from his chief's room in possession of
the pawnbroker's story, with the addition of as much authoritative
counsel as the mind of Merrington could suggest for its investigation.
Caldew did not relish the task of following up the slender clue. He had
not been impressed by the relation of Mr. Hobbs' supposed recognition of
Nepcote, although as a detective he was aware that unlikely statements
were sometimes followed by important results. But the element of luck
entered largely into the elucidation of chance testimony. There were
some men in Scotland Yard who could turn a seeming fairy tale into a
startling fact, but there were others who failed when the probabilities
were stronger. Caldew accounted himself one of these unlucky ones.

But luck was with him t