“Indeed,” said Thorndyke. “I wonder if he still has the same housekeeper.”

“This lady is a German,” replied the clerk, “with a regular jaw-twisting name. Sounded like Shallybang.”

“Schallibaum. That is the lady. A fair woman with hardly any eyebrows and a pronounced cast in the left eye.”

“Now that’s very curious, sir,” said the clerk. “It’s the same name, and this is a fair woman with remarkably thin eyebrows, I remember, now that you mention it. But it can’t be the same person. I have only seen her a few times and then only just for a minute or so; but I’m quite certain she had no cast in her eye. So, you see, sir, she can’t be the same person. You can dye your hair or you can wear a wig or you can paint your face; but a squint is a squint. There’s no faking a swivel eye.”

Thorndyke laughed softly. “I suppose not; unless, perhaps, someone might invent an adjustable glass eye. Are these the keys?”