"Manling? The cathedral thief, the—the extraordinarily coincidental one with me?"
"Precisely," the Englishman nodded. "The remarkable American thief who has followed his richer countrymen and women about England this summer, robbing them so audaciously."
"I had heard that the police had given him that name for convenience' sake."
"Rather," the Briton corrected, leaning forward in his almost admiring interest, "he gave himself that name. He has been growing more bold and more simple, too, with every robbery. At Ely, you recall, his series of hauls had already given him an identity with the police," he continued with the return of his old impersonal manner. "But not content with that, Mr. Preston, clearly he has busied himself with building up a personality.
"And he has chosen to create a fortunate one. For he is always simple, subtle—safe. As he has never bungled nor betrayed himself, so he has never injured any one per-
118
