It is but little for such services.' I answered languidly that the affair had ceased to thrill me; I wished to hear no more about the money or the thief.

He stayed a long while, wheedling and remonstrating, depicting his own subtlety in glowing terms; but in the end departed with despairing shrugs and backward glances, hoping that I might relent.
Rashid, who had been out to tend the horses, came presently and asked if I had seen the great detective.

When I described our interview, he nearly wept.
'The people here think me the thief,' he told me.

'They say nothing, but I feel it in their bearing towards me.

And now you give up seeking for the culprit! Am I to bear this shame for evermore ?' Here was a new dilemma! No way out of it appeared to me, for even if we did employ the great detective, our chance of finding the delinquent seemed exceeding small.