own watch.

"He gazed at me narrowly for a moment, and then he smiled. 'You grow
more marvellous at every step. That was indeed the number. Are you
a demon?'

"'No,' I replied. 'Only something of a mind-reader.'

"Well, to be brief, the bargain was struck. I was to look for a
watch that I knew he hadn't lost, and was to receive 200 pounds if I
found it. It seemed to him to be a very good bargain, as, indeed, it
was, from his point of view, feeling, as he did, that there never
having been any such watch, it could not be recovered, and little
suspecting that two could play at his little game of deception, and
that under any circumstances I could foist a ten-shilling watch upon
him for two hundred pounds. This business concluded, he started to
go.

"'Won't you have a little Scotch?' I asked, as he started, feeling,
with all that prospective profit in view, I could well afford the
expense. 'It is a stormy night.'

"'Thanks, I will,' said he, returning and seating himself by my
table--still, to my surprise, keeping his hat on.

"'Let me take your hat,' I said, little thinking that my courtesy
would reveal the true state of affairs. The mere mention of the word
hat brought about a terrible change in my visitor; his knees
trembled, his face grew ghastly, and he clutched the brim of his
beaver until it cracked. He then nervously removed it, and I noticed