'Yes;' beginning to smile behind his book.
'He said that she wore a coat with a deep cape, and that she rested one arm upon the case.'
'Well, I did wonder what the woman's dress had to do with it. 'Gad, but you questioned those people until I began to feel sorry for them. What figure, now, is the dress likely to cut?'
I laughed.
'In this case let us suppose that the young woman is one of the gang.'
'Oh!'
'And let us fancy that while she peered at the pink topaz—you remember Lausch told us that she excused her nearness by saying that she was very near-sighted?'
'That's so.'
'Well, while looking at the gems, with her face bent over the case, one arm upon the edge, and with the voluminous cape outspread, what is to prevent her using the other hand and arm to draw a diamond point slowly and heavily along the glass, close to the metal?'
'By Jove! what indeed?'