"Now, see here," said Hewitt, when he had made me acquainted with his client's tale, "there is something odd about all this. See this post-card which Samuel gave me. It is from Denson, and it makes this morning's appointment. See! 'Be down below at eleven sharp' is the message. He came and he waited just two hours and a quarter, as he tells me, being certain to the time within five minutes. That brings, us to a quarter-past one--the time when he finds he is robbed; and he came downstairs in a very agitated state at a quarter-past one, as I have since ascertained. At two I pass and see him still dancing distractedly on the front steps--certainly very much like a man who has had a serious misfortune, or expects one. At a quarter-past two--that was about it, I think?" (I nodded) "At a quarter-past two you see him, still agitated, diving into the brougham with this black case in his hand; and a little afterward--after all this, mind--he tells me this story of a robbery of diamonds from that very case, and assures me that he sent for me the moment he discovered the loss--that is to say, at a quarter-past one, a positive lie--and has told nobody else. He further assures me that he has told me everything that has happened up to the moment he meets me. Then he goes away--to his office, as he tells me. But you find him posting to Manchester Square in a cab, and there once more plunging into that same mysterious closed brougham. Now why should he do that? He has seen the person in that brougham, presumably, an hour before, and there can be nothing more to communicate, except the result of his interview with me--a thing I warned him to keep to himself. It's odd, isn't it?" "It is. What can be his motive?" "I want to know his motive. I object to working for a client who deceives me--indeed, it's unsafe. I may be making myself an accomplice in some criminal scheme. You observe that he never called for the police--a natural impulse in a robbed man. Indeed, he expressly vetoes all communication with the police." "Of course he gave reasons." "But the reasons are not good enough. I can't stop a man leaving this country anywhere round the coast except by going to the police." "Can it be," I suggested, "that Samuel and Denson are working in collusion, and have perhaps insured the stones, and now want your help to make out a case of loss?"