His trembling had almost ceased now; he was only dull and drowsily tired.
`Suppose we get this thing from the beginning,' said the chief inspector. `You say you wanted to steal the Poe manuscript…. '
`I had to,' the other said.
`You had to?'
`Oh!' muttered Dalrye. His hand went to his eyes automatically, and found no glasses. `Oh yes. I didn't tell you. It was all on the spur of the moment. Bing. Like that. I don't think I should ever have thought of stealing it out of the house here. But when he telephoned me early Sunday evening at the, Tower he told me that when he'd pinched his uncle's hat he'd stolen the manuscript with it.'
`You knew Driscoll was the hat-thief?'
`O Lord’,said Dalrye, with a sort of feeble irritation. `Of course I did. Of course he'd come to me. I helped him. He — he always had to have help. And of course, you see, he'd have told me, anyway. Because one of his choicest ideas was to get a Yeoman Warder's hat from the Tower of
London. '
`By God and Bacchus!' muttered Dr Fell. `I overlooked that. Yes, certainly., Any, respectable hat-thief would have tried to…'
`Be' quiet, will you?', snapped Hadley. `Listen, Mr Dalrye. He told you about it..'.?’