“It seems,” he ended, “that there can be no doubt about the verdict. That Ridgway is a clever dog.”
“The detective?” queried Le Sage; and the General nodded.
“The sort I should be sorry, if a thief, to have laid on my trail.”
“But supposing you left none?” questioned the Baron, with a smile.
“Ah!” said Sir Calvin, having nothing better to reply.
“I have often thought,” said Le Sage, “that if crime realised its own opportunities, there would be no use for detectives at all.”
“Eh? Why not?” asked his host.
“Because there would be nothing to find out,” answered the Baron.
“How d’ye mean? Nothing to find out?”
“Nothing whatever. My idea, now, of a successful crime is not a crime which baffles its investigators, but a crime which does not appear as a crime at all.”