But scarcely more than a month ago I met Mrs. Armitage at Brighton, and we
talked, among other things, of the previous robbery--that of Mrs. Heath's
bracelet. I described the circumstances pretty minutely, and, when I
mentioned the match found on the table, she said: 'How strange! Why, _my_
thief left a match on the dressing-table when he took my poor little
brooch!'"
Hewitt nodded. "Yes," he said. "A spent match, of course?"
"Yes, of course, a spent match. She noticed it lying close by the
pin-cushion, but threw it away without mentioning the circumstance. Still,
it seemed rather curious to me that a match should be lit and dropped, in
each case, on the dressing-cover an inch from where the article was taken.
I mentioned it to Lloyd when I got back, and he agreed that it seemed
significant."
"Scarcely," said Hewitt, shaking his head. "Scarcely, so far, to be called
significant, although worth following up. Everybody uses matches in the
dark, you know."
"Well, at any rate, the coincidence appealed to me so far that it struck
me it might be worth while to describe the brooch to the police in order
that they could trace it if it had been pawned.
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