“Very well,” replied Mr. Gillett, good-humoredly.  If his caller cared to discuss generalities rather than come at once to the business at hand, whatever had brought him there, that was none of his concern.  These titled gentry had a leisurely method, peculiar to themselves, of broaching a subject; but if they paid him well for his time he could afford to appear an amiable and interested listener.  In this case, the thought also insinuated itself, that his visitor had something of the manner of a man who had been up late the night before; the glint of his eye was that of your fashionable gamester; Mr. Gillett smiled sympathetically.

“One, if I recall rightly,” went on Lord Ronsdale, “was known as—­let me see”—­the elastic stick described a sharper curve—­“the ’Frisco Pet?  Remember?” He bent slightly nearer.

“That I do.  Not likely to forget him.  Unmanageable; one of the worst!  Was transported for life, with death as a penalty for returning.”  A slight sound came from the nobleman’s throat.  “A needless precaution,” laughed the speaker, “for he’s gone to his reward.  And so your lordship remembers—­”

“I remember when he used to step into the ring,” said Lord Ronsdale, his voice rising somewhat.  “Truth is, sight of you brought back old recollections.  Things I haven’t thought of for a long time, don’t you see!”

“Quite so!  Delighted, I am sure.  I didn’t know so much about him then; that came after; except that the gentlemen found him a figure worth looking at when he got up at the post—­”

“Yes; he was worth looking at.”  Lord Bonsdale’s eyes half closed.  “A heavy-fisted, shapely brute; with muscles like steel.  But ignorant—­” He lingered on the word; then his glance suddenly lifted—­“Had something on his arm; recall noticing it while the bout was on!”

Mr. Gillett with a knowing expression rose, took a volume from a bookcase and opened it.

“The ‘something’ you speak of, my Lord,” he observed proudly, “should be here; I will show it that you may appreciate my system; the method I have of gathering and tabulating data.  You will find an encyclopedia of information in that bookcase.  All that Scotland Yard has, and perhaps a little besides.”

“Really?” The nobleman’s eyes fastened themselves on the book.

“To illustrate:  Here’s his case.”  Gillett’s fingers moved lightly over the page. “’Testimony of Dandy Joe, down-stairs at the time with landlady who kept the house where the crime was committed.  Heard ’Frisco Pet, who had been drinking, come in; go up-stairs, as they supposed, to his own room; shortly after, loud voices; pistol shot.  Landlady and Joe found woman, Amy Gerard, dead in shabby little sitting-room.  Pet, the worse for liquor, in a dazed condition at a table, head in his hands.  Testimony of Joe corroborated by landlady; she swore no one had been in house except parties here mentioned, all lodgers.