"If you had broken in, you would have found a dead man.

As it was you found a live man and obtained an important statement.

You acted quite properly." "How do you suppose he managed it ?" asked Badger.
Thorndyke held out his hand.

"Let us look at his cigarette-case," said he.
Badger extracted the little silver case from the dead man's pocket and opened it.

There were five cigarettes in it, two of which were plain, while the other three were gold-tipped.