other is unmarried. He lives for his collection, and he lives with
it. The house is not a very large one, and the collection takes up most
of it; but he keeps a suite of rooms for his own occupation, and has two
servants--a man and wife--to look after him. The man, who is a retired
police sergeant, acts as caretaker and watchman; the woman as
housekeeper and cook, if required, but my brother lives largely at his
club. And now I come to this present catastrophe."

He ran his fingers through his hair, took a deep breath, and continued:

"Yesterday morning Isaac started for Florence by way of Paris, but his
route was not certain, and he intended to break his journey at various
points as circumstances determined. Before leaving, he put his
collection in my charge, and it was arranged that I should occupy his
rooms in his absence. Accordingly, I sent my things round and took
possession.

"Now, Dr. Thorndyke, I am closely connected with the drama, and it is my
custom to spend my evenings at my club, of which most of the members are
actors. Consequently, I am rather late in my habits; but last night I
was earlier than usual in leaving my club, for I started for my
brother's house before half-past twelve. I felt, as you may suppose, the
responsibility of the great charge I had undertaken; and you may,
therefore, imagine my horror, my consternation, my despair, when, on
letting myself in with my latchkey, I found a police-inspector, a
sergeant, and a constable in the hall. There had been a robbery, sir, in
my brief absence, and the account that the inspector gave of the affair
was briefly this:

"While taking the round of his district, he had noticed an empty hansom
proceeding in leisurely fashion along Howard Street. There was nothing
remarkable in this, but when, about ten minutes later, he was returning,
and met a hansom, which he believed to be the same, proceeding along the
same street in the same direction, and at the same easy pace, the
circumstance struck him as odd, and he made a note of the number of the
cab in his pocket-book. It was 72,863, and the time was 11.35.

"At 11.45 a constable coming up Howard Street noticed a hansom standing
opposite the door of my brother's house, and, while he was looking at
it, a man came out of the house carrying something, which he put in the
cab. On this the constable quickened his pace, and when the man returned
to the house and reappeared carrying what looked like a portmanteau