But we have found no such bit of writing." "Have you searched for it?
You did not know till now that any importance might be attached to a morsel of paper with some half-dozen words written on it." "True, but a detective searches just the same.

We ransacked that room as few rooms have been ransacked in years.

Not for a known clew, but for an unknown one.

It seemed necessary in the first place to learn who this man was.

His papers were consequently examined.