Mr. Jiro's excellent knowledge of English seemed to fail him, but his wife
took up the defence.

"My husband had more to think about in Ipswich than a small knife, Mr.
Brett."

"Very much more, but it was the knife which brought him to the place. He
carried the major attraction away with him."

Mrs. Jiro thought this sounded nice. She turned to her husband:

"Why don't you tell the gentleman all you know about it, Nummie?"

The little man looked at her curiously before he spoke to the barrister.

"I have nothing to tell," he said. "I told the police all that they asked
me. That was a velly old Ko-Katana, a hundred yeals old. It was made by a
famous altist. I have told you the meaning of the liting. That is all I
know."

"Why did you give your name at Ipswich as Okasaki?" demanded Brett.

"Oh, that is vely easy. Okosaki is my family name. You English people say
it quicker than Numaguwa Jiro, so I give it. But when I got mallied I used
my light name. Japanese law does not pelmit the change of names now. My
ploper name is Numagawa Jiro"--which he pronounced "Jilo."

"You told the detective at Ipswich that the device on the handle
represented the setting sun. How did you know the sun was setting, and not