At this point he suddenly stopped the message and started to go through his pockets. But the gold-wrapped box with the bow was nowhere to be found. He racked his brains to recall where he could have left it, but nothing occurred to him. He went through his pockets once again and this time he felt something whose shape his fingertips did not recognize. He withdrew from his pocket an expensive man’s cigarette lighter in a leather case but could not for the life of him remember how the object had got into his coat or when and from whom he had stolen it . . . On the lighter were written the following words:

If you strike me three times, your wish will be granted.