"Such
penetration strikes me as marvellous."
"I didn't know it," replied the stranger, with a smile. "What I said was
intended to be jocular, and to put Brokedale at his ease. The Americans
present, with their usual astuteness, would term it bluff. It was. I
merely rattled on. I simply did not wish to offend the gentleman by
letting him know that I had penetrated his disguise. Imagine my surprise,
however, when his eye brightened as I spoke, and he entered my room with
such alacrity that half the powder which he thought disguised his beard
was shaken off on to the floor. Sitting down in the chair I had just
vacated, he quietly remarked:
"'You are a wonderful man, sir. How did you know that I had lost my
watch?'
"For a moment I was nonplussed; more than that, I was completely
staggered. I had expected him to say at once that he had not lost his
watch, but had come to see me about the tiara; and to have him take my
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.
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