than for you to
blazon forth that prepared and unsolicited statement to PREVENT
accusation. Yet, as I said before, even that wretched attempt to cover
up your tracks was not enough. I still had to find that overwhelming,
impelling motive necessary to affect a man like you. That motive I
found in the strongest of all impulses--Love, I suppose you would call
it," he added bitterly, "that night you called! You had brought the
most conclusive proofs of it on your sleeve."

"But--" I almost screamed.

"Silence!" he thundered. "I know what you would say. You would say
that even if you had embraced some Young Person in a sealskin coat,
what had that to do with the robbery? Let me tell you, then, that that
sealskin coat represented the quality and character of your fatal
entanglement! You bartered your honor for it--that stolen cigar case
was the purchaser of the sealskin coat!

"Silence! Having thoroughly established your motive, I now proceed to
the commission of the crime itself. Ordinary people would have begun
with that--with an attempt to discover the whereabouts of the missing
object. These are not MY methods."

So overpowering was his penetration that, although I knew myself
innocent, I licked my lips with avidity to hear the further details of
this lucid exposition of my crime.

"You committed that theft the night I showed you the cigar case, and
after I had carelessly thrown it in that drawer. You were sitting in
that chair, and I had arisen to take something from that shelf. In
that instant you secured your booty without rising. Silence! Do you
remember when I helped you on with your overcoat the other night? I
was particular about fitting your arm in. While doing so I measured
your arm with a spring tape measure, from the shoulder to the cuff. A
later visit to your tailor confirmed that measurement. It proved to be
THE EXACT DISTANCE BETWEEN YOUR CHAIR AND THAT DRAWER!"

I sat stunned.

"The rest are mere corroborative details! You were again tampering
with the drawer when I discovered you doing so! Do not start! The
stranger that blundered into the room with a muffler on--was myself!
More, I had placed a little soap on the drawer handles when I purposely
left you alone. The soap was on your hand when I shook it at parting.
I softly felt your pockets, when you were asleep, for further
developments. I embraced you when you left--that I might feel if you
had the cigar case or any other ar