The Circular Study

awe even, elapsed before Mr

as for the tomb, with the sacred symbol on his breast offering such violent contradiction to the earthly passion which had driven the dagger home, were enough to move even the tried sp

d given utterance to his own bewilderment and surprise, Mr. Gr

is first act was to make sure of the fact by laying his hand on the pulse and examining the eyes, who

ve it the most careful attention before turning his eyes elsewhere. It was no ordinary weapon. It was a curio from some oriental shop. This in itself seemed to poi

floor, the room was a scene of peace and quiet luxury. Even the large table which occupied the centre of the room and near which the master of the house had been standing when struck gave no token of the tragedy which had been enacted at its side.

ipt, a scroll of music, a pot of growing flowers, and-and-(this seemed oddest of all) a row of electric buttons, which Mr. Gryce no sooner touched than the light which had been burning redly in the cage of fretted ironwork overhead changed in a twinkling to a gr

t features. Indeed, the face was one to make an impression under any circumstances. In the present instance, and with such an expression stamped upon it, it exerted a fascination which disturbed the current of the detective's thoughts whenever by any chance he allowed it to get between him and his duty. To attribute folly to a

rd by which it had been suspended still clung to the cross and mingled its red threads with that other scarlet thread which had gone to meet it from the victim's wounded breast. Who had torn down that cross? Not the victim himself. With such a wound, any such movement would have been impossible. Besides, the nail and the empty place on the wall were as far removed from where he lay as was possible in the somewhat

air, it had evidently been painted about the end of our civil war. In it was to be observed the same haunting quality of intellectual charm visible in the man lying prone upon the floor, and though she was fair and he da

help us in our task,"

able. The bed was the narrow cot of a bachelor, and the dresser that of a man of luxurious tastes and the utmost nicety of habit. Both the bed and dresser were in perfect order, save for a silver-backed comb, which had been taken from the latter, and which he presently found lying on the floor at the other end of the room. This and the presence of a pearl-handled parasol on a small stand near the door proclaimed that a woman had been there within a short space of time. The identity of this woman was soon established in his eyes by a sma

ew thus offered that pleased him, perhaps it was a recognition of the irony of fate in thus making a trap for unwary mortals out of their vanities. Whatever it was, the smile with which he turned his eye upon the table toward which he had thus been led was very eloquent. But before examining this article of furniture more closely, he attempted to find out where the thread had become

his conjecture until he had reached the rug on which the prostrate man lay. There, amid the long hairs of the be

rom the smile with which he eyed his finger after having drawn it across a certain spot near the inkstand, and also from the care with which he lifted that inkstand and replaced

de him turn. Styles, the officer, having now been over the house, had returned

Gryce, with a quick mo

ed to the staircase visible

indicated b

ich at that moment interested him so deeply. At this the

n the guilty party. He

s evidently surpri

but what is that? Is he coming down? I'm sure there's n

e one was certainly d

y necessary you should see him before he sees you. He's a very strange-acting man, sir; and

he let the curtain drop till only a small loophole remained. The steps, which had been gradually growing lou

id he see you when you came upon him upstairs?" whi

The man for whose appearance they waited had just lifted the portiè

this the murderer? This pale, lean servitor, with a t

ed this peaceful figure, urged him in a whisper to have patience, and both, turning toward the man again, beheld him advance, stop, ca

in a hurried whisper. "Watch what he wil

rmer self, entered upon a series of pantomimic actions which to the two men who watche

rly cramped position, he plunged with the other toward a table from which he made a feint of snatching something which he no sooner closed his hand u

he seemed to contemplate in horror the result of his own deed;-these needed no explanation beyond what was given by his writhing features and trembling body. Gradually

yles into the ear of the amazed detective. "He

blem for the solution of which he found