I knew to result from the burning of myrrh. I
suspected from that and from the nature of the ashes that a mummy had
been burnt, and as there was only one mummy in the affair, the inference
was obvious. I laid hands on the two cases and tilted them. One was
quite empty. The weight of the other told me that it contained something
a little heavier than any mummy ought to be. I came to the conclusion
that there was a body in it, injected full of arsenic, no doubt, to
prevent as much as possible the processes of decay, the odour of which
the incense was concealing. I didn't attempt to open the thing; I left
that until the arrival of the men from the Yard, for whom I sent Dollops
this afternoon. I had a vague notion that it would not turn out to be
Ulchester's body, and I had also a distinct recollection of what you
said about his being able to mimic a Gaiety chorus-girl and all that
sort of thing. The more I thought over it the more I realized what an
excellent thing to cover a bearded face a yashmak is. Still, it was all
hazard. I wasn't sure--indeed, I never was sure--until tea-time, when I
caught this supposed 'Zuilika' sitting at last, and gave the spade
guinea its chance to decide it."

"My dear Mr. Cleek, how could it have decided it? That's the thing that
amazes me the most of all. How could the tossing of that coin have
settled the sex of the wearer of those garments?"

"My dear Major, it is an infallible test. Did you never notice that if
you throw anything for a man to catch in his lap, he pulls his knees
together to _make_ a lap, in order to catch it; whereas a woman--used to
wearing skirts, and thereby having a lap already prepared--simply
broadens that lap by the exactly opposite movement, knowing that
whatever is thrown has no chance of slipping to the floor. That solved
it at once. And now it's bed-time, Major. Good-night."

CHAPTER V

THE RIDDLE OF THE NINTH FINGER

The inn of "The Three Jolly Fishermen," which, as you may know, lies on
the left bank of the Thames, within a gunshot of Richmond, was all but
empty when Cleek, answering the superintendent's note, strolled into it,
and discovered Narkom enjoying his tea in solitary state at a little
round table in the embrasure of a bay window at the far end of the
little private parlour which lies immediately behind the bar-room.

"My dear fellow, do pardon me for not waiting," said the superintendent,
as his famous ally entered, looking like a co