"And that?" interrupted Raikes.

"An accessory."

"Ah!" cried Raikes, "unthinkable!"

"Not at all," replied Gratz; "there was an accessory--yourself!"

At this announcement Raikes seemed about to collapse into his original helplessness. The facts of his losses were extraordinary enough, but this was too much.

But Gratz hurried on, explained the unconscious visits of his astounded hearer to the cellar, and all that followed.

"Then," exclaimed Raikes, when he had concluded, "I have been the victim of hypnotic suggestion."

"Precisely!" replied Gratz. "The story was merely the medium of transmission, and through this weird conduit the story-teller conveyed his instructions to your subconsciousness."

"But," demanded Raikes, "why this substitution of coals? It strikes me that a scheme so clever as all this would scarcely be jeopardized by such an absurdity."

"That contingency," answered Gratz, "was never intended. In your condition of mind, having discharged the coin upon the floor of the bin, a mental idiosyncrasy of years insisted upon recognition.

"In some inexplicable way you retained enough of your mental identity to preserve some manifestation of the law of equivalents. In other words, having parted with something, you demanded something in return.

"With as much deliberation, therefore, as you manifested in contributing to your loss, you attempted to reimburse yourself by filling the bag with coal.

"In some occult way you assured yourself that you were engaged in a transaction where one commodity took the place of another.

"To this freak of mentality the idea of the pebbles in the story being substituted for the diamonds contributed; and what was intended by the narrator as a consistency of detail, to be explained later on, made an unforeseen appeal to your native cupidity and provided me with a very satisfactory clue.

"Moreover, the narrator assisted himself by allowing you to contemplate some brilliants--a sapphire, a diamond.

"In such demonstrations a centralizing object is an almost indispensable adjunct; and putting the two together, the stories, the brilliants, it is not difficult to see that you have received your instructions in the manner indicated, and obeyed them with unexpected consistency."

For a moment there was silence, which was sharply disturbed by an unexpected and apparently unsuggested query from Gratz.

"Were you ever," he asked, looking directly at Raikes, "in this apartment during the absence of its occupant?"

"No!" stammered Raikes, apparently very much astonished at the question.

"You lie!"

Raikes and his nephew sprang to their feet, their eyes bulging in the direction of the bedroom.

In the doorway stood the Sepoy.

"You lie!" he repeated, "you miserable husk, you! You were here one evening in my absence, or, at least, what you supposed was my absence,"

and raising his manacled hands the speaker pointed to the closet. "I was there," he said.

"Ah--ah!" faltered Raikes chokingly.

"And now," continued the Sepoy, "let us get to the end of this business.

It ought to be a simple proceeding. You want three missing bags of gold; they will be forthcoming on one condition."

"And what is that?" cried Raikes, beginning to withdraw into himself as if he expected a sharp bargain.

"That you leave the details of the transaction in the hands of this gentleman," answered the Sepoy, pointing to Gratz. "You had better consent," he added as he analyzed the hesitation of the startled Raikes, "or I shall describe, with photographic minuteness, all that occurred in the few short moments of your visit."

Raikes regarded Gratz helplessly.

During all this conversation the detective had been doing some rapid thinking and had decided upon his course, so nodding to Raikes, he said: "Leave the matter to me; I will restore your coin to you in the morning.

See that neither of you leaves the house until then, or speak to a soul before I see you."

Whatever objections may have been forming in the mind of the miser were quickly dissipated by a look from the Sepoy, and without another word Raikes and his nephew departed.

"Well," inquired Gratz, when the two were again alone, "what have you to say to me that you do not want Raikes to hear?"

"You will know shortly," replied the Sepoy after a few moments of reflection, with his eyes directed upon the handcuffs. "I do not have to resort to your elaborate reasoning to discover the nature of your profession. These," holding up his hands, "are unmistakable."

"Yes," answered Gratz drily, "they require no trope or metaphor to illustrate their application."

"However," continued the Sepoy, "I have just listened to the deductions of an unusual acumen for analysis along abstract lines."

Gratz bowed his acknowledgments.

"That is simple," he said, "when there is such a liberal supply of data."

"True," responded the Sepoy. "That was an oversight on my part. Still, your constructive application, too, is no less convincing."

"But to what does all this lead?" inquired Gratz with a degree of impatience. "Suppose we admit that there is an exquisite balance maintained between my analysis and my synthesis, and have done with it.

You have some appeal to make to one or both of these faculties."

"Your penetration is the peer of your reasoning. Listen: Will you do me the favor of assuming that your comprehensive resume of a few moments ago is all I care to hear on the subject?" asked the Sepoy.

"I understand," replied Gratz.

"Very well, then," continued the Sepoy. "I will extend to you the courtesy of offering no denial to anything you have said."

"That," laughed Gratz, "is the height of affability, under the circumstances; but proceed."

"Good!" responded the Sepoy. "I have a suggestion to make. It is understood, in the first place, that Raikes is to recover his coin; on that point he will be fully satisfied. But there still remains the recognition of your services to him; you will have more difficulty in convincing him of his obligation than you had in persuading me of your acumen."

"Ah!" murmured Gratz; "it is coming."

"Are you any judge of brilliants?" inquired the Sepoy abruptly.

"Somewhat," answered Gratz; "I have seen a few in my time."

"Well," continued the Sepoy, "kindly put your hand in my right vest pocket and withdraw a small case of shagreen which you will find there."

Gratz obeyed.