They set their cleverest detectives to work upon it, and it was not until more than a month had elapsed that the men engaged were compelled most reluctantly to admit their defeat.

They had done their best: it was the system under which they worked that was to blame.

In the detection of crime, or in the tracing of a criminal, it is best, as in every other walk of life, to be original.
One morning on arriving at my office I found a letter awaiting me from the remaining directors of the bank, in which they inquired if I could make it convenient to call upon them at the head-office that day.

To tell the truth I had been expecting this summons for nearly a week, and was far from being displeased when it came.

The work I had expected them to offer me was after my own heart, and if they would only trust the business to me and give me a free hand, I was prepared on my part to bring the missing gentlemen to justice.
Needless to say I called upon them at the hour specified, and after a brief wait was conducted to the board room where the directors sat in solemn conclave.
The chairman, Sir Walter Bracebridge, received me on behalf of his colleagues.
"We wrote to you, Mr.Fairfax," he said, "in order to find out whether you could help us concerning the difficulty in which we find ourselves placed.