“I thought at once, of course, of a jackdaw or a magpie—­these birds’ thievish reputations made the guess natural.  But the marks on the match were much too wide apart to have been made by the beak of either.  I conjectured, therefore, that it must be a raven.  So that, when we arrived near the coach-house, I seized the opportunity of a little chat with your groom on the subject of dogs and pets in general, and ascertained that there was no tame raven in the place.  I also, incidentally, by getting a light from the coach-house box of matches, ascertained that the match found was of the sort generally used about the establishment—­the large, thick, red-topped English match.  But I further found that Mr. Lloyd had a parrot which was a most intelligent pet, and had been trained into comparative quietness—­for a parrot.  Also, I learned that more than once the groom had met Mr. Lloyd carrying his parrot under his coat, it having, as its owner explained, learned the trick of opening its cage-door and escaping.

“I said nothing, of course, to you of all this, because I had as yet nothing but a train of argument and no results.  I got to Lloyd’s room as soon as possible.  My chief object in going there was achieved when I played with the parrot, and induced it to bite a quill toothpick.

“When you left me in the smoking-room, I compared the quill and the match very carefully, and found that the marks corresponded exactly.  After this I felt very little doubt indeed.  The fact of Lloyd having met the ladies walking before dark on the day of the first robbery proved nothing, because, since it was clear that the match had not been used to procure a light, the robbery might as easily have taken place in daylight as not—­must have so taken place, in fact, if my conjectures were right.  That they were right I felt no doubt.  There could be no other explanation.

“When Mrs. Heath left her window open and her door shut, anybody climbing upon the open sash of Lloyd’s high window could have put the bird upon the sill above.  The match placed in the bird’s beak for the purpose I have indicated, and struck first, in case by accident it should ignite by rubbing against something and startle the bird—­this match would, of course, be dropped just where the object to be removed was taken up; as you know, in every case the match was found almost upon the spot where the missing article had been left—­scarcely a likely triple coincidence had the match been used by a human thief.  This would have been done as soon after the ladies had left as possible, and there would then have been plenty of time for Lloyd to hurry out and meet them before dark—­especially plenty of time to meet them coming back, as they must have been, since they were carrying their ferns.  The match was an article well chosen for its purpose, as being a not altogether unlikely thing to find on a dressing-table, and, if noticed, likely to lead to the wrong conclusions adopted by the official detective.