y
words seriously was entirely unexpected and overwhelmingly surprising.
However, in view of his rank, I deemed it well to fall in with his humor.
'Oh, as for that,' I replied, 'that is a part of my business. It is the
detective's place to know everything; and generally, if he reveals the
machinery by means of which he reaches his conclusions, he is a fool,
since his method is his secret, and his secret his stock in trade. I do
not mind telling you, however, that I knew your watch was stolen by your
anxious glance at my clock, which showed that you wished to know the time.
Now most rich Americans have watches for that purpose, and have no
hesitation about showing them. If you'd had a watch, you'd have looked at
it, not at my clock.'

"My visitor laughed, and repeated what he had said about my being a
wonderful man.

"'And the dents which my son made cutting his teeth?' he added.

"'Invariably go with an American's watch. Rubber or ivory rings aren't
good enough for American babies to chew on,' said I. 'They must have gold
watches or nothing.'

"'And finally, how did you know I was a rich American?' he asked.

"'Because no other can afford to stop at hotels like the Savoy in the
height of the season,' I replied, thinking that the jest would end there,
and that he would now reveal his identity and speak of the tiara. To my
surprise, however, he did nothing of the sort.

"'You have an almost supernatural gift,' he said. 'My name is Bunker. I
_am_ stopping at the Savoy. I _am_ an American. I _was_ rich when I
arrived here, but I'm not quite so bloated with wealth as I was, now that
I have paid my first week's bill. I _have_ lost my watch; such a watch,
too, as you describe, even to the dents. Your only mistake was that the
dents were made by my son John, and not Willie; but even there I cannot
but wonder at you, for John and Willie are twins, and so much alike that
it sometimes baffles even their mother to tell them apart. The watch has
no very great value intrinsically, but the associations are such that I
want it back, and I will pay L200 for its recovery. I have no clew as to
who took it. It was numbered--'

"Here a happy thought struck me. In all my description of the watch I had
merely described my own, a very cheap affair which I had won at a raffle.
My visitor was deceiving me, though for what purpose I did not on the
instant divine. No one would like to suspect him of having purloined his
wife's tiara. Why s