much.--Besides, the other afternoon was not the first time
I had seen him--no."

"You saw him two months ago, then?"

"Yes, sir--two months ago, and one month before that."

"In here?"

"Yes."

"What did he want?"

"Money. Money for jewelry. Oh, he had the jewelry. And I gave him the
money--a great deal; more, perhaps, than was good for me, when you
remember I always try to make a reasonable profit. He argued. He knew
about values."

This interested Braceway more than anything he had yet heard.

"That gave you an idea," he suggested.

"You are quick, Mr. Braceway. It did give me an idea. It made me think:
well! This man, he has pawned things before, these very same things.
He knew quite well what they should bring." Abrahamson shrugged his
shoulders. "And he did know--and I let him have the money. That is, I
mean, what happened the first two times. This last time, the three days
ago, he was different, in a hurry, and he took only what I offered. He
made no argument. I could see he was frightened. Yes--he was different
this last time."

The detective, oblivious of the other for a moment, blew a cloud of smoke
across the counter, causing the Jew to dodge and cough.

"Let me see," Braceway said. "You saw him three months ago, two months
ago, and three days ago. Had you ever seen him before?"

Abrahamson laughed, and, reaching over, slapped Braceway on the shoulder
gently.

"You are so quick, Mr. Braceway! I can't swear I had ever seen him
before, but I think I had--not with the gold tooth and the beard, but
with a moustache and bushy eyebrows, eyebrows too bushy."

"Where? Where did you see him?"

"Here, I think--but I'm not sure, you see. Sometimes I have traveled a
little--to Atlanta, to Washington, to New York. I don't know; I can't
tell whether I saw him in one of those places, or some other place, or
here."

Braceway urged him with his eyes.

"If you only could! Mr. Abrahamson, if you could remember where you saw
him when he wore the moustache, you would enable me to put my hands on
him. You'd do more. You'd give me enough information to lead to the
arrest of the murderer."

Abrahamson was silent, gazing through the shop doorway. He turned to the
detective again.

"I bet you, Mr. Braceway, you will be glad to hear something. Chief
Greenleaf was in here this morning, asking questions. But he asked so
many that were worth nothing, so few that were good. And I forgot to tell
him the whole stor