"First, the dead man," Quarles went on. "Quite a healthy man was the medical opinion--but his eyes. Did you particularly notice his eyes? You look into the brain through the eyes, see into it with great penetration if you have accustomed yourself to such scrutiny as I have done. Mr. Ratcliffe had not been dead long enough for his eyes to lose that last impression received from the brain. They were still looking at something, as it were, and they still had terror in them. Now he was a traveler, one who must have faced danger scores of times; it would take something very unusual to frighten him." I acquiesced with a nod. "We may take it, I think, that such a man would not be terrified by burglars." I admitted this assumption. "He was looking at the curtains which were drawn across the window--that is a point to remember," said the professor, marking off this fact by holding up a finger. "Then the little boxes; did you count them?" "Yes, there were twenty-five." "And the last one was unopened; did you open it?" "Yes; it contained a minute head in ivory, wonderfully carved." "I did not touch the box," said Quarles, "but if the toy was complete it would naturally contain such a head. Did you notice the nineteenth box?" "Not particularly." "Had you done so you would have noticed that it was discolored like the first and largest one, not clean and white like the others--and more, beginning from the nineteenth box the semi-circular arrangement was broken, as though it had been completed in a hurry, and possibly by different hands." I did not make any comment. "The largest box had become discolored because it was the outside one, always exposed; I judged therefore that the nineteenth box was discolored for the same reason. For some time it had been the outside box of the last few boxes. In other words, the toy in Mr. Ratcliffe's possession had not been a complete one. This led me to look at box eighteen, the last in Mr. Ratcliffe's series; it was just the size to contain the sapphire. This suggested that the sapphire was the central point of the mystery." "You think the thieves were disturbed?" "No." "Then why didn't they take the sapphire?" "Exactly. By the way, is the stone still at Scotland Yard?" "Yes." "Has it been tested?" "No." "Have it examined by the most expert man you can find. I think you will find it is paste, a wonderful imitation, capable of standing some tests--but still paste." "Then why did Mr. Ratcliffe--an expert in gems, remember--treasure it so carefully?" I asked.