OCR Text |
Show eRED HQU WBT a SJT2 t fcjILm CfT"TVaj tM 1" BEpiN HERE TODAY. Th body of the no er-do-woil brother. KmLIERT ABLETT. was found on the floor of tho locked office of Tho Bed Mouse, and .MA KK A B LICIT, bachelor proprietor ot tho country CBtut.- was nowhere to be found. In tho eves of Inspector Inspect-or Birch. It wits clour that Mark had shot Robert, particularly since everyono knew that Mark learned with dlagulet ''nd annoyance of Robert's Rob-ert's return from bis 15-vear stay In Australia. But tho circumstances were mysterious mys-terious Tim shot was heard two minutes artef Robert's arrival, and when ANTONY OILLINGHAM, a gentleman adventurer, entered tho house to I I dt Mark's nuest I'd Id. B&VJBRL.E1 , he found MATT l'AVl,-V. .hirkM constant companion, pounding on the lo. k 1 door and demanding admittance The two men entered through a window win-dow and found the body. How could Mark have lockeri the door If tho keyH-wero on tho outside0 puzzled puz-zled Antony, n, discussed som.- i the mysterious clues with Bill Bev-erley. Bev-erley. WITH 1 ill 8TOR1 Ant.mv smoked thoughtfully for a I "' t'e then 100k his pip.- out of 'his mouth and turned to his friend "Are you prepared to be the com-' plote utson ?" he asked "Watson?" , "Do-yoti-follow-mo-Watson; that one. Are you prepared to havo quite obvious things rxr.ialned to you, to ask futile questions. to give me chances of scorine off vou Because I' all helps " "My d.ar Tony," said Bill delight-1 edly 'need you ask?" Antony said not 1 Ing, and Hill went on happily to himself. "i perceive from the -trawberry-mark on your shirt-front inut you bad ntraw berries for dessert. des-sert. Holmes, you astonish me. rut. tut. you know mv method. hf 1 fa lu SSa - . T i.iuaeco 1 no tooacco a in the Persian slipper. Can I leave my practice for a week'' I ean " Antoy smiled and went on smoking smok-ing After wnitlnp hopefully for a minute or two. Bill said In a firm voice : Well then. Holmes. I feel bound o ask you If you have deduced anv-thlng. anv-thlng. Also whom do you suspect?" Antony began to talk. "Do you lemember." he said, "one of Holmes little scores over Watson about the number of steps up to the Baker street lodging" Roor old Watson Wat-son had been up and down the,n a thousand times, out he had never thought of counting them, whereas Holmes had counted them as a matter mat-ter of course, and knew that there were seventeen And that was supposed sup-posed to be tho difference between obs.-.vation and non-observation. Watson was .rushed again. and Holmes appeared to him more amazing amaz-ing than ever. Now, It alwavs seemed o me that In that matter Holmes was Wie ajs. and Watson the sensible person. per-son. What on earth 1s the point of keeping In your h- ad an unnecessary fact like thajt? If yot really want to know at any time the number of steps to your lodging, you can ring up your Inndludy and ask he,- J'v,e been up ;nd down tho steps of tho club a thousand thou-sand times, but If you asked me to tell ,you at this moment how manv steps thoro are I couldn't do It. Could you ?" I certainly couldn't." said Bill ' But If you really wanted to know." said Antony casually, with a sudden ehang of voice. "I could find out for you without even bothering to ring up the hall porter." Bill was puzzled as to why they were talking about the rlub steps, but he felt It his duty to say lhat he did want to know how many there win "Right." said Antony. "I'll find out." He closed hla eyea "I'm walking up St .rames street," lie said slowly. "Now I've come to the club and I'm going paal the smoking loom windows one two three four. Now I'm Lt the steps. 1 turn In and begin going up them ne two three four five six, then a broad stop, six seven eight nine another broad step, eight nine, another broad step, nine ten eleven. Kloven I'm Inside (lood morning Rogers Fine da) again " With a 1 it t lo start he open-id open-id his eyes and came back to his present .surroundings. He turned to Bill with a smile. "Eleven," he said Count them the next time you're there. Kiev n and now I hope I shall forge! 1; again " Bill was dlnstinctlv interested. That's rather hot." he said, "Expound "Ex-pound " "Well, I can't explain It. whether It's something In tho actual eye. or methlng In the brain, or what, but I have got rather an uncanny habit nt recording things unconsciously. You know that game whero you look at a tray full of small objects for thre minutes, and then turn away and try to make a list of them. It means a len II of a lot of concentration for tht irdlnary pnrson. H he wants to get his list complete, but In some odd way manage to do It without concent rattot at all." "I should think that's rather a use ful gift for an amateur detective. Y01 oght to have gone Into the professior tK-fore." "Woll. It Is rather useful It's rathei surprising, you know, to a stranger Let's surprise Cayley with It shal we "'" "How '"' "Well, let's ask him ' Antony stopped and looked at Bill comlcall "let's usk him what hs's going tc do with Ihe key of the office." For a moment Bill did not understand. under-stand. Key of the office?" he said vaguely. vague-ly. You don't mean Tony' What do you mean f Good Ood, do you mean that Cayley but what about Mark?" "I don t know where Mark is that's another thing I want to know 'but I'm quite certain that be hasn't j got tho key of the office if he had It. I vnowr that when I came on him this .afternoon ho had Just locked the door and put the key In his pocket. " You mean you saw him at the time but that you've only Just remembered jit reconstructed It In the way you were explaining Just mW" No. 1 didn't seo him But I did see something I saw the key of the billiard room' 'Where?" "Outside the billiard room door " "Outside? But It was Inside when we looked Just now." "Exactly." "Who put It there"" "Obviously Cayley." "But " "Let's go back to this afternoon. I don't remember noticing tho billiard room key at the time; I must have done so without knowing l-'robably when I saw Cayley banging at th door I may have wondered 6ub-consciou8ly whether tho key of the room next to It would fit Well, when I was sitting sit-ting out by mvself on that seal Jus' ivei.irn you came along, I went over tho wholo scene In my mind, and I sudden- is saw the billiard room key there OUtslde And 1 li;gan to wonder if the office key had be. n outnide, too. When Cayley came up, I told you my Idea nd you were both Interested. But Cayi". Was USt : shade loo Interested. I dare SJ JTOU dliln't notice It. but he WtLB ' By .love." "Well, or course that proved nothing, noth-ing, tho key business dldnt iellv prove anything, because whatever side of the door the oth- r keys fTere, Mark rrrfght have locked his own private ' "on from the Inside sometimes BJt I pllod it on, and pretended that it ' ii enormously Important ami quite altered the oase altogether, .md having I "I van the key of the billiard room" got Cayley thoroughly anxious about II ns I expected, he couldn't resist He altered tho keys and gave himself away entirely ' I "But the library key was still outside. out-side. What didn't he alter that? " I "Because he's a clever devil. For one thing, the Inspector had been In the library, and might possibly have noticed It already. And for another " Antonv hesitated. "What?" said Bill, after waiting for him to go on. "It's only BMiesswork. But I fancv that Cayley was thoroughly upset about the key business. lie didn't want to commit himself definitely to the statement that the key was either outside or Inside He wanted to leave It vague. It was safest that way." "I see." said Bill slowly But his mind was elsewhere He w-as wondering suddenly about Cayley "Now then Watson." said Antonv suddenly "It's time you said something." some-thing." ,.,,7 say" Tonv- An you really mean 1 mean what I said. Bill. No mor " "Well, what does it amount to?" "Simply that Robert Ablett died In the office this afternoon, and that Cayley knonn exactly bow he died. 'That'B all. It doesn t follow that Cayley Cay-ley killed him " "No. No, of course it doesn't " Bill gave a sigh of relief "He Jut shielding shield-ing Mark what 0 That's the simplest explanation if vou re a friend of Cayley and want to et him down lightly. But then I'm not, you see " "Why ln't It simple, anyhow?" ' Weil, let's have the explanation then, und I'll undertake to give you a simpler one afterward. Only remember re-member the key Is on the outside of the door to start with "Yes well, I don't mind that Mark goes in to see his brother, and thoy quarrel and all the rest of it. Just as ('viey w a h saying Cayley hoars tho shot, und In order to give Mark time I to get away, locks the door and pretends pre-tends that Mark has locked the door, and that he can t get in How's that?" ' Hopeless. Watson, hopeless. " "Why?" "How does Cayley know that it is Mark who has shot Robert, and not the other way 'round?" ' Oh," said Bill, rather upset "Vos " He thought for a moment "All right Say that Cayley has gone Into tho room first, and seen Robert on the ground " I "Well?" "Well, there you are" "An.l VV iKll ,r,,., h ' . That It s a fine :Crernoon Jj 1 ho leml I, in, :, ,,,.. h .na dr?. 8 him wSffi "Well, of course. 1 suppoe. hi what happened," said Bill relJ An.l what iloes Mark say'N "Explains that tho revorfel toff a. ctdeniallv during tho stri ' U hereupon Cayloy shlMdi U by doing what Rill? Zncm him to ! . ' u. ...mn sllll thlni any man could possibly do conn guilt by running away' (Continued in Our Next Isjq |