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"Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss

my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"-he jerked his

thumb in the direction of the old hat-"but there are points in

connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and

even of instruction."

I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his

crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows

were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that,

homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to

it-that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of

some mystery and the punishment of some crime."