a description of the person who called upon you about them—or a view of the letter if he wrote."
"He called and saw me personally."
"Ah! That is good. Now would you be so kind as to describe him?"
"Well, in the first place, he was very tall and rather handsome, he had, if I remember rightly, a long brown moustache, and was well dressed."
"That doesn't tell us very much, does it? Was he alone?"
"No. He had with him, when he came into the office, an individual whose face singularly enough remains fixed in my memory. Indeed I cannot get it out of my head."
Instantly I became all excitement.
"What was this second person like?" asked the inspector.
"Well, I can hardly tell you—that is to say, I can hardly give you a good enough description of him to make you see him as I saw him. He was tall and yet very slim, had black hair, a sallow complexion, and the blackest eyes I ever saw in a man. He was clean-shaven and exquisitely dressed, and when he spoke, his teeth glittered like so many pearls. I never saw another man like him in my life."
"Nikola for a thousand," I cried, bringing my hand down with a thump upon the table.
"It looks as if we're on the track at last," said the inspector. Then, turning to Mr. Goddard again: "And may I ask now what excuse they made to you for wanting these things?"
"They did not say—they simply paid a certain sum down for the hire of them, gave me their address, and then left."
