e I was working, reading the account of a clever
robbery committed the day before. The thief, described as a well-dressed
young man of gentlemanly appearance, wearing a short black beard and
moustache, had walked into a branch of the London and Westminster Bank
during the dinner-hour, when only the manager and one clerk were there.
He had gone straight through to the manager's room at the back of the
bank, taken the key from the inside of the door, and before the man could
get round his desk had locked him in. The clerk, with a knife to his
throat, had then been persuaded to empty all the loose cash in the bank,
amounting in gold and notes to nearly five hundred pounds, into a bag
which the thief had thoughtfully brought with him. After which, both of
them--for the thief seems to have been of a sociable disposition--got
into a cab which was waiting outside, and drove away. They drove
straight to the City: the clerk, with a knife pricking the back of his
neck all the time, finding it, no doubt, a tiresome ride. In the middle
of Threadneedle Street, the gentlemanly young man suddenly stopped the
cab and got out, leaving the clerk to pay the cabman.

"Somehow or other, the story brought back Joseph to my mind. I seemed to
see him as that well-dressed gentlemanly young man; and, raising my eyes
from the paper, there he stood before me. He had scarcely changed at all
since I last saw him, except that he had grown better looking, and seemed
more cheerful. He nodded to me as though we had parted the day before,
and ordered a chop and a small hock. I spread a fresh serviette for him,
and asked him if he cared to see the paper.

"'Anything interesting in it, Henry?' says he.

"'Rather a daring robbery committed on the Westminster Bank yesterday,' I
answers.

"'Oh, ah! I did see something about that,' says he.

"'The thief was described as a well-dressed young man of gentlemanly
appearance, wearing a black beard and moustache,' says I.

"He laughs pleasantly.

"'That will make it awkward for nice young men with black beards and
moustaches,' says he.

"'Yes,' I says. 'Fortunately for you and me, we're clean shaved.'

"I felt as certain he was the man as though I'd seen him do it.

"He gives me a sharp glance, but I was busy with the cruets, and he had
to make what he chose out of it.

"'Yes,' he replies, 'as you say, it was a daring robbery. But the man
seems to have got away all right.'

"I could see he