“Sorry,” the manager said patronisingly when Pointer, after asking for a private room, had shown him the watch; “it's not the kind of article we ever deal in. Not our class at all.” He handed back the watch contemptuously, and endeavoured to look over the other's head.
Pointer, unruffled as ever, opened the case again.
“Then you don't know that mark? Those crossed semicircles?”
He pointed to two almost invisible pin scratches.
The manager started, and took the watch again quickly.
“Two semicircles crossed? By Jove, so there are! The marks are so old and worn that I didn't notice them. You've good eyes, Inspector.”
“I look at what is before me,” was the quiet reply, which the salesman greeted as a sally of wit.
“Ha, ha! We all do that, I suppose. Well, to tell you the truth, that happens to be an old private mark of our own.”
“Just so. You changed it some twenty years ago.”
“Oh—ah! You certainly are well up in your work! If you sit down again for a moment I'll make inquiries.”