A man dressed quietly but well; his brown greatcoat not cut in the very last fashion, perhaps, but of glossy cloth and in good style; a pearl pin in his black silk scarf; and his boots, although thick-soled and substantial, neatly made. His face was hard, shrewd, but not unkindly, and there was a merry twinkle in his penetrating grey eyes, which seemed to see through you in a single glance. Although very quiet and unobtrusive in manner, he was evidently a man of much determination of character; it was to be seen in his slow, distinct way of speaking, and in the firm lines of a mouth which the clean-shaven upper lip fully showed. "But I've had luck, I won't deny that. There was that case of them sharpers down in the eastern counties. It wasn't till all others had failed that they put me on to the job. I didn't know the chap wanted, not even by sight; and yet I was certain that he knew me. He'd been doing the confidence trick with a young man of this town, and had robbed him of over a hundred pounds. He made tracks out of the place--no one knew where. He was a betting man, and I hunted for him high and low, at all the racecourses of the country, but couldn't come upon him. We were in London, last of all, and it was rather a joke against me at Scotland Yard, where I had been, as usual, for help. They'd ask me if I knew my man, and I was obliged to say 'No.' And if I thought I knew where to find him, and I had to say 'No' to that too; and they always laughed at me whenever I turned up. I was just about to travel homewards, when I thought I'd try one more chance. There happened to be a sporting paper on the coffee-room table, and I took it up. I saw two race meetings were on for that day--Shrewsbury and Wye. I'd go for one, but which? I shied up a shilling, and it came down Wye. So to the Wye Races I went, with the young man who had been duped.