"I should have thought it might have," said Hartmann, "but then I am not a detective."
Quarles shifted his position a little. From the moment he had sat down he had been absorbed in the pattern of the carpet, apparently.
"You might be right, I think," I said. "One thing is certain, an ordinary thief would have great difficulty in dealing with the stones."
"I suppose so."
"He could only pass them to some one who could afford to bide his time, receiving small payment for the risk he had run?"
"True."
"And it would be extremely awkward for the person in whose possession the stones were found. That is the detective's point of view."
"Such a person might be able to prove that he was a legitimate possessor."
"I was thinking of the Slade case," I answered. "Messrs. Bartrams, the pawnbrokers, you know, came very badly out of that. They looked uncommonly like receivers of property which they knew had been stolen."
"Now I am out of my depth," said the banker, rising to bring the interview to an end.