As a necessary consequence of these proceedings, the range of suspicion now becomes limited to the lodger, Mr. Jay.  When I presented your letter of introduction to Sergeant Buhner, he had already made some inquiries on the subject of this young man.  The result, so far, has not been at all favorable.  Mr. Jay’s habits are irregular; he frequents public houses, and seems to be familiarly acquainted with a great many dissolute characters; he is in debt to most of the tradespeople whom he employs; he has not paid his rent to Mr. Yatman for the last month; yesterday evening he came home excited by liquor, and last week he was seen talking to a prize-fighter.  In short, though Mr. Jay does call himself a journalist, in virtue of his penny-a-line contributions to the newspapers, he is a young man of low tastes, vulgar manners, and bad habits.  Nothing has yet been discovered, in relation to him, which redounds to his credit in the smallest degree.

I have now reported, down to the very last details, all the particulars communicated to me by Sergeant Buhner.  I believe you will not find an omission anywhere; and I think you will admit, though you are prejudiced against me, that a clearer statement of facts was never laid before you than the statement I have now made.  My next duty is to tell you what I propose to do, now that the case is confided to my hands.

In the first place, it is clearly my business to take up the case at the point where Sergeant Buhner has left it.  On his authority, I am justified in assuming that I have no need to trouble myself about the maid-of-all-work and the shopman.  Their characters are now to be considered as cleared up.  What remains to be privately investigated is the question of the guilt or innocence of Mr. Jay.  Before we give up the notes for lost, we must make sure, if we can, that he knows nothing about them.

This is the plan that I have adopted, with the full approval of Mr. and Mrs. Yatman, for discovering whether Mr. Jay is or is not the person who has stolen the cash-box:—­

I propose, to-day, to present myself at the house in the character of a young man who is looking for lodgings.  The back room on the second floor will be shown to me as the room to let; and I shall establish myself there to-night, as a person from the country, who has come to London to look for a situation in a respectable shop or office.  By this means I shall be living next to the room occupied by Mr. Jay.  The partition between us is mere lath and plaster.  I shall make a small hole in it, near the cornice, through which I can see what Mr. Jay does in his room, and hear every word that is said when any friend happens to call on him.  Whenever he is at home, I shall be at my post of observation.  Whenever he goes out, I shall be after him.  By employing these means of watching him, I believe I may look forward to the discovery of his secret—­if he knows anything about the lost bank-notes—­as to a dead certainty.