"Yes, a driver who stopped his fly before the shop and asked to be
supplied with a yellow-leather chauffeur's cap for one of his
customers. This was the only one left. He paid for it, without
troubling about the size, and drove off. He was in a great hurry."

"What sort of fly was it?"

"A calash."

"And on what day did this happen?"

"On what day? Why, to-day, at eight o'clock this morning."

"This morning? What are you talking about?"

"The cap was bought this morning."

"But that's impossible, because it was found last night in the park.
If it was found there, it must have been there; and, consequently,
it must have been bought before."

"The hatter told me it was bought this morning."

There was a moment of general bewilderment. The nonplussed
magistrate strove to understand. Suddenly, he started, as though
struck with a gleam of light:

"Fetch the cabman who brought us here this morning! The man who
drove the calash! Fetch him at once!"