I arose and embraced him warmly, yet he was already so engrossed in thought that at the same moment he mechanically placed his hand upon his watch chain as if to consult the time. Sit down, he said. Have a cigar?
I have given up cigar smoking, I said.
Why? he asked.
I hesitated, and perhaps colored. I had really given it up because, with my diminished practice, it was too expensive. I could afford only a pipe. I prefer a pipe, I said laughingly. But tell me of this robbery. What have you lost?
He arose, and planting himself before the fire with his hands under his coattails, looked down upon me reflectively for a moment. Do you remember the cigar case presented to me by the Turkish Ambassador for discovering the missing favorite of the Grand Vizier in the fifth chorus girl at the Hilarity Theatre? It was that one. I mean the cigar case. It was incrusted with diamonds.
And the largest one had been supplanted by paste, I said.
Ah, he said, with a reflective smile, you know that?
You told me yourself. I remember considering it a proof of your extraordinary perception. But, by Jove, you dont mean to say you have lost it?
He was silent for a moment. No; it has been stolen, it is true, but I shall still find it. And by myself alone! In your profession, my dear fellow, when a member is seriously ill, he does not prescribe for himself, but calls in a brother doctor. Therein we differ. I shall take this matter in my own hands.
And where could you find better? I said enthusiastically. I should say the cigar case is as good as recovered already.
I shall remind you of that again, he said lightly. And now, to show you my confidence in your judgment, in spite of my determination to pursue this alone, I am willing to listen to any suggestions from you.
He drew a memorandum book from his pocket and, with a grave smile, took up his pencil.
I could scarcely believe my senses. He, the great Hemlock Jones, accepting suggestions from a humble individual like myself! I kissed his hand reverently, and began in a joyous tone:
First, I should advertise, offering a reward; I should give the same intimation in hand-bills, distributed at the pubs and the pastry-cooks. I should next visit the different pawnbrokers; I should give notice at the police station. I should examine the servants. I should thoroughly search the house and my own pockets. I speak relatively, I added, with a laugh. Of course I mean YOUR own.
He gravely made an entry of these details.
Perhaps, I added, you have already done this?
Perhaps, he returned enigmatically. Now, my dear friend, he continued, putting the note-book in his pocket and rising, would you excuse me for a few moments? Make yourself perfectly at home until I return; there may be some things, he added with a sweep of his hand toward his heterogeneously filled shelves, that may interest you and while away the time. There are pipes and tobacco in that corner.
Then nodding to me with the same inscrutable face he left the room. I was too well accustomed to his methods to think much of his unceremonious withdrawal, and made no doubt he was off to investigate some clue which had suddenly occurred to his active intelligence.
Left to myself I cast a cursory glance over his shelves. There were a number of small glass jars containing earthy substances, labeled Pavement and Road Sweepings, from the principal thoroughfares and suburbs of London, with the sub-directions for identifying foot-tracks. There were several other jars, labeled Fluff from Omnibus and Road Car Seats, Cocoanut Fibre and Rope Strands from Mattings in Public Places, Cigarette Stumps and Match Ends from Floor of Palace Theatre, Row A, 1 to 50. Everywhere were evidences of this wonderful mans system and perspicacity.
I was thus engaged when I heard the slight creaking of a door, and I looked up as a stranger entered. He was a rough-looking man, with a shabby overcoat and a still more disreputable muffler around his throat and the lower part of his face. Considerably annoyed at his intrusion, I turned upon him rather sharply, when, with a mumbled, growling apology for mistaking the room, he shuffled out again and closed the door. I followed him quickly to the landing and saw that he disappeared down the stairs. With my mind full of the robbery, the incident made a singular impression upon me. I knew my friends habit of hasty absences from his room in his moments of deep inspiration; it was only too probable that, with his powerful intellect and magnificent perceptive genius concentrated on one subject, he should be careless of his own belongings, and no doubt even forget to take the ordinary precaution of locking up his drawers. I tried one or two and found that I was right, although for some reason I was unable to open one to its fullest extent. The handles were sticky, as if some one had opened them with dirty fingers. Knowing Hemlocks fastidious cleanliness, I resolved to inform him of this circumstance, but I forgot it, alas! until but I am anticipating my story.