Detectives of Scotland Yard have more use for bowler hats than for halos. Whatever the writers may make of them they have few illusions about themselves. They are very much of the same clay as human beings in less glamorous callings. Labar was no conjuror, and an odd sequence of facts bore to him just as great an appearance of mystery as it would to any other professional man. He swore crisply between his teeth, as Mr. Thingumbob, the eminent collar merchant, might have sworn had he found a competitor selling neckwear below the cost of production. For in these cases the problem that confronts the detective and the ordinary business man is in essence the same. They each have to ask themselves why. And if they get the correct answer they have scored a point. If they are wrong the business man is hit in the bank balance, and the newspapers attend to Scotland Yard. The bank believed that it had let Gertstein have ten one hundred pound notes, and one of these had reached Labar through a member of Gertstein's household. Yet the millionaire denied that he had had that cheque cashed. It was entirely improbable that he could have any motive for lying. On the face of it someone had forged his signature, and so introduced the complication of an additional crime. It was certainly necessary to have a talk with the bank manager. Labar summoned Malone and gave him a rough outline of the situation. The bank would be closed, of course, but somehow the manager's private address would have to be found. The big detective sergeant nodded comprehendingly, and set forth on his mission. That round of golf which Labar had reckoned upon in the morning was far away. But his inclination to relaxation had vanished. An investigation such as he had upon his hands leaves the man in charge with all he can think about. He was fiercely energetic and his men were being driven hard. Every few minutes the telephone bells were whirring, and men were rushing in from various avenues of inquiry with verbal reports. The net was being cast wide. The usual routine precautions had, of course, been seen to. Lists of the stolen property had been sent out to jewellers, pawnbrokers and others, and published broadcast in the evening papers. That was a ten million to one chance. The goods in this crime would be got rid of through obscure underground channels.