question. People were often victims of "wild thinking" in the midst of
the excitement caused by a murder mystery.

He returned to the effort to persuade the Jew to try to remember where he
had seen the bearded man without a beard, with only a moustache and bushy
eyebrows.

"That's the important thing," he urged. "If you can remember that, I'll
land the murderer."

"Maybe--perhaps, I can." The pawn broker hesitated, then made up his mind
to confide to Braceway another secret. "I don't promise, but there is a
chance. You see, Mr. Braceway, I'm a thinker." He smiled, deprecating the
statement. "Most men do not think. But me, I think. I do this: I want to
remember something. Good! I go back into my little room back of the shop,
and I practise association of ideas. What does the moustache remind me
of? What was in his voice that made me think I had seen him before? What
do his eyes bring up in my mind?

"So! I go back over the months, over the years. One idea leads to another
connected with it. There flash into my mind links and links of thoughts
until I have a chain leading to--where? Somewhere. It is fun--and it
brings the results. I will do so tonight and tomorrow. I will try. I
bet you I will be able to tell you--finally. You see?"

"It's a great scheme," said Braceway, encouraging him. "It ought to work.
Now, tell me this: how did this fellow strike you? What did you think of
him when he was in here pawning jewels and wearing a disguise?"

"I will tell you the truth. I thought at first he was like a lot of other
sick people who come here with that disease--tuberculosis. In the
beginning they have plenty of money. They expect to get well before the
money gives out. But they have miscalculated. They are not yet well, and
the money is gone.

"What next? They must have more money. With this disease, the rich get
well, the poor die. Well! I thought this fellow needed money to get
well--that was all; and, like a lot of them, he was ashamed of being hard
up and didn't want it known."

"Tell me this: would the ordinary man in the street have noticed that the
gold tooth was a false, clumsy affair?"

"I think not. I buy all sorts of old gold and sets of false teeth. There
is a market for them. I have studied them. That's why I saw what this
fellow's was."

"I see. Now, will you show me what he pawned two months ago, and three
months ago?"

Abrahamson consulted a big book, went to the safe at the back of the
shop, a