"Yes, there were twenty-five."
"And the last one was unopened; did you open it?"
"Yes; it contained a minute head in ivory, wonderfully carved."
"I did not touch the box," said Quarles, "but if the toy was complete it would naturally contain such a head. Did you notice the nineteenth box?"
"Not particularly."
"Had you done so you would have noticed that it was discolored like the first and largest one, not clean and white like the others—and more, beginning from the nineteenth box the semi-circular arrangement was broken, as though it had been completed in a hurry, and possibly by different hands."
I did not make any comment.
"The largest box had become discolored because it was the outside one, always exposed; I judged therefore that the nineteenth box was discolored for the same reason. For some time it had been the outside box of the last few boxes. In other words, the toy in Mr. Ratcliffe's possession had not been a complete one. This led me to look at box eighteen, the last in Mr. Ratcliffe's series; it was just the size to contain the sapphire. This suggested that the sapphire was the central point of the mystery."
"You think the thieves were disturbed?"
"No."