Of course, in a case of this kind every little item is calculated to arouse suspicion, and what, under ordinary circumstances, would seem to have no value, becomes of great importance when intricate crime has to be unravelled. Therefore the “plans or drawings” and Fallowfield’s remark, overheard by the waiter, were pregnant with significance. And the remark was, perhaps, in some degree of greater confirmatory value than the other things, for, as it happened, the robbery was committed on the twelfth of the month. That very day, in the course of the afternoon, the four men gave up their apartments in the hotel, settled their respective bills, and took their departure. They had a fair amount of luggage, and drove off in two four-wheeled cabs. Through the hotel porter I traced these cabs, as t
