The Circular Study

munication from Miss Butterworth at or near the

y person to lean over Mr. Adams's study table after his

equally

linched between his teeth. This paper has been recovered, and will be read at the inquest. Perhaps

complacency of Miss Butterworth was superb, and being the result of something that could not b

m Mr. Adams's house on the afternoon of his death, but when asked to give a description of these persons, lost themselves in generalities as tedious as they were unprofitable. One garrulous old woman had observed a lady of genteel appearance open the door to an elderly gentleman in a great-coat; and a fashionably dressed young woman came in all breathless

ng to, the facts already known, and night came on without much progre

ves mingled with the crowd blocking the thoroughfare in front, but nothing came of their surveillance here or at the cemetery to which the remains were speedily carried. The problem which had been presented to the police had to be worked out from su

g into the study. The steel plate had been shoved back into the place prepared for it by Mr. Adams, but the glimpses still to be seen of its blue surface through the hole made in the wall of the antechamber formed anything but an attractive feature in the scene, and Mr. Gryce, with something of the instinct and much of the deftness of a housewife, proceeded to pull up a couple of

to my own," said he. "Have you ord

, as she followed him down the hall. "The

one, while I watch from the window the arrival of the other person

be here at all. Besides, the house is very cheerfully lighted.

light was burning w

elyn!" calle

h. "That is not the cry with which it greeted me before. It was

at we will let this one go for the present.

fraid that the privilege of being present at the t

rtow has been given a key, and will enter as of old in entire fr

I shall like that. I had rather n

to distract his attention. Nothing must stand in the way of his following those impulses which may yield us a clew to his habits and the ways of this peculiar household. I propose t

en, or the unaccustomed light

lose, making this little hole for your eye and this one for mine.

the possessor of a lively curiosity (but we know from her own lips that she was not), she might have found some enjoyment in the situation. But being where she was solely from a sense of duty, she probably blushed behind her screen at the position in wh

ect, and, bending her every energy to listen, she watched for the expect

mes a day. But he barely touched it this time. Something seen, or unseen, prevented him from entering. Was it the memory of what he had last beheld there? Or had he noticed the rugs hanging in an unaccustome

"Don't be afraid, ma'am. This whistle wi

aid. I would

d, he led the way into the study, and with purpose, or without a purpose-who knows?-idly touched a button on the table top, thus throwing a new light on the scene. It was Miss Butterworth's first experience of this change of light, and she wa

the parlor portières when Bartow was seen hurrying in from the

of the rug, which had been carefully relaid on the spot where his master had fallen, began to make such arrangements for the night as he was in the habit of making at this hour. He brought a bottle of wine f

He was stooping over the comb which Mr. Gryce had left lying on the floor. This small object in such a place seemed

ack to their old place behind the parlor curtains, "he has forgotten ev

gazed earnestly at the rug where he had last seen that master lying outstretched and breathless; and awakening to a realization of what had happened, fell into his most violent self and proc

and surveyed each other with a look of marked discouragement. T

ee what will happen. I have an idea

e's brow

he can see thr

, and a rich blue took

ng ha

worth looke

mply the possibility of this man seeing through blank walls and obeying

nger with a triumphant air. The old

ut his hands as if to lift something which he expected to find there. Seeing nothing, he glanced in astonishment up at t

, eyed Mr. Gryce with some curiosit

see that he came expecting to find a pile of books on the table

urself that there is no possible communication between this room an

ost naive. She smiled, and there was apology in her smile,

thing-a very little thing-which you doubtless observed yourself and which may explain

out it, madam. I thought I had t

the h

could have escaped my eyes. But if you

y business to

ow

; to look on t

he fl

nd, therefore, where he has the most business. You must have noticed how marr

und of the

es

where he was, and Miss Butterworth where she was (only she would not be left, but followed him), he

ehind him, and after sixty years of hard service even a detective may be excused a slight nervousness. "Now, why should it be trodden here? T

ervals from the bottom to the top of the staircase, and pulling it away from the wall, on which it hung decidedly askew, reve

answers the same purpose. Miss Butterworth, your eye is to be trusted

unter with this demented man. I had noticed the marks on the landing, and the worn edges

s

oot to and fro over the fl

her his master had need of him. Ingenious in Mr. Adams to contrive signals for communication wit

of the assailant from the doorway, came to thrust with his left hand, instead of with his right. Now if he saw the tragedy from this point, he saw it over the assailant'

at looked so complicated. Ah, what is that? Why, it's t

ut near enough to give you a st

hetic words about

Bartow. You can see hi

ning, and gave a grunt, a very decided grunt.

alive with passion. He looks as i

rung up so high. You may be sure Mr. Ada

that I care to go back where that m

terworth. You are safe under my

or to Bedroom. D-Evelyn's Picture E-Loophol

communicate with Mr. Adams's study, I here submit a diagram of the same. The s