I handed him over the watch withsome slight feeling ofamusement in my heart, for the test was, as I thought, animpossible one, and I intended it as a lesson against thesomewhat dogmatic tone which he occasionally assumed. Hebalanced the watch in his hand, gazed hard at the dial, openedthe back, and examined the works, first with his naked eyes andthen with a powerful convex lens. I could hardly keep fromsmiling at his crestfallen face when he finally snapped the case toand handed it back.
"There are hardly any data," he remarked. "The watch has beenrecently cleaned, which robs me of my most suggestive facts."
"You are right," I answered. "It was cleaned before being sent to