"i had a friend once called maudsley, who went to the bad, and has just been serving his time in pentonville. one day he had met me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they could get rid of what they stole. i knew that he would be true to me, for i knew one or two things about him; so i made up my mind to go right on to kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my confidence. he would show me how to turn the stone into money. but how to get to him in safety? i thought of the agonies i had gone through in coming from the hotel. i might at any moment be seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat pocket. i was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly an idea came into my head which showed me how i could beat the best detective that ever lived.