Surely it is no great feat to assume that a man who treats a fifty-guinea watch so cavalierly must be a careless man.

Neither is it a very far-fetched inference that a man who inherits one article of such value is pretty well provided for in other respects." I nodded, to show that I followed his reasoning.
"It is very customary for pawnbrokers in England, when they take a watch, to scratch the number of the ticket with a pin-point upon the inside of the case.

It is more handy than a label, as there is no risk of the number being lost or transposed.

There are no less than four such numbers visible to my lens on the inside of this case.
Inference,--that your brother was often at low water.

Secondary inference,--that he had occasional bursts of prosperity, or he could not have redeemed the pledge.