home. Of course, I admired it, equally, of course, I asked him where he'd got it. All he said was what he always does say, he'd just picked it up. Off the street, no doubt, or on the moor, or in an omnibus, or on a train! But that's Jimmie. And on the same occasion he brought back some half-dozen old books—very old, apparently rare books—about which I noticed a certain thing, though I never said a word to him about it—no good!"
"What was the certain thing?"
"The books are upstairs in his library; you may have seen them. In each there's a book-plate with a coat-of-arms, and a legend exactly like those on the copper box."
"I've seen the books. I saw the coat-of-arms, too," said I. "Odd! And—significant."
"Why significant?"
"Looks as if they'd all come from the same source. And he didn't tell you anything as to where he got these things?"
"He never tells anybody anything as to where he gets things—never! He just brings them in and puts them down, somewhere—and that's all. However, the copper box disappeared for a while—not so very long ago. I
