And Sir Philip had simply answered,--

"Life is uncertain; who can be sure of the morrow?"

Sir Philip's visit to Mr. Jeeves's house had lasted some hours, for the
conversation between them had branched off from actual business to various
topics. Mr. Jeeves had not noticed the hour when Sir Philip went; he
could only say that as he attended him to the street-door, he observed,
rather to his own surprise, that it was close upon daybreak.

Sir Philip's body had been found not many yards distant from the hotel at
which he had put up, and to which, therefore, he was evidently returning
when he left Mr. Jeeves,--an old-fashioned hotel, which had been the
principal one at L---- when Sir Philip left England, though now
outrivalled by the new and more central establishment in which Margrave
was domiciled.

The primary and natural supposition was that Sir Philip had been murdered
for the sake of plunder; and this supposition was borne out by the fact to
which his valet deposed, namely,--

That Sir Philip had about his person, on going to the mayor's house, a
purse containing notes and sovereigns; and this purse was now missing.

The valet, who, though an Albanian, spoke English fluently, said that the
purse had a gold clasp, on which Sir Philip's crest and initials were
engraved. Sir Philip's watch was, however, not taken.

And now, it was not without a quick beat of the heart that I heard the