hours later, "this little
seaside town is a sort of Thieves' Parlour. Four-fifths of the stuff
that's stolen in Spain goes out of the country this way. As in the
present case, the actual thief daren't try to cross the frontier, but
he's always got an accomplice waiting at San Sebastian. We know the
thieves all right--at least, the police do, but the accomplices are the
devil. Often enough, they go no further than Biarritz, and there are
so many of the Smart Set constantly floating between the two towns that
they're frightfully hard to spot. In fact, about the only chance is to
trace their connection with the thief. What I mean is this. A's got
the jewels and he's got to pass them to B. That necessitates some kind
of common denominator. Either they've got to meet or they've got to
visit--at different times, of course--the same bureau....

"Well, there you are.

"By the merest accident you stumbled upon the actual communication of
the password by A to B. The voice you heard upon the telephone was
that of the original thief, or of his representative. This morning you
visited the actual bureau. I know the place well. My wife's bought
scent there. It's always been a bit of a mystery, but I never
suspected this. I've not the slightest doubt it's been used as a
bureau for years. Well, in all innocence you gave the password, and in
all innocence received the gems. B arrives too late, finds that you
have them, and starts in pursuit. I've no doubt she really ran on to
see which way you'd gone. She couldn't have hoped to catch you on
foot. Of course, she couldn't understand how you'd come by the
password, but the few words you'd had with her the night before made
her suspect your innocence. Still, she wasn't sure, and that's why her
chauffeur fetched up across your bows."

"You don't mean----"

"I do indeed. If you hadn't handed them over, they'd have been taken
by force....

"Well, finding that either by accident or design she's been sold a pup,
B communicates with the gang, and, while you're out, your rooms are
ransacked."

"And I walked," I said, "after dark from the Calle de Miracruz to this
hotel with the baubles under my arm."

The Vice-Consul laughed.

"The armour of ignorance," he said, "will sometimes turn the keenest
wits. The confidence it gives its wearer is proverbial."

"But why," said Adele, "was the shop-girl so terribly nervous? I mean,
if she's used to this sort of traffic....