“This Mr. Weiss has gone back to Hamburg,” the clerk observed.

“Ah,” said Thorndyke, “then it would seem not to be the same. My acquaintance was a fair man with a beard and a decidedly red nose and he wore spectacles.”

“That’s the man. You’ve described him exactly,” said the clerk, who was apparently rather easily satisfied in the matter of description.

“Dear me,” said Thorndyke; “what a small world it is. Do you happen to have a note of his address in Hamburg?”

“I haven’t,” the clerk replied. “You see we’ve done with him, having got the rent, though the house is not actually surrendered yet. Mr. Weiss’s housekeeper still has the front-door key. She doesn’t start for Hamburg for a week or so, and meanwhile she keeps the key so that she can call every day and see if there are any letters.”