The Shrieking Pit

. "I never knew a clearer case. All that remains for me to do is to lay my

ry Durwood to Heathfield Station. The superintendent had done more than justice to the meal, and a subsequent glass of the smugglers' brand

y confident,

o be so. Everything I have seen to-day sup

you are taking by listening to your conversation this afternoon, but I should like you to state your theory in precise

es. His official mind scented an attempt to trap him, and his Norfolk prudence prom

le. "You've heard of city detectives and their ways, and you're thinki

in the superintendent's mind that a grim sm

e my own, I sup

to your mind, in which he who runs may read. But you are quite wrong in suspecting me. I have no ulterior motive. My only interest in t

nnily. "It was only the other day I was reading a long article in one of the London newspapers about y

to come. Now, in this case, let us play fair, actuated by the one desire to see that justice is done. This case does not strike me as quite such a simple affair as it seems to you. You approach it with a preconceived theory to which you are determined to adhere. Your theory is plausible and co

ps you'll tell me what my theory is," re

that he is allowed to remain when the landlord wants to turn him away. Chance throws him into the society of a man of culture and education, who is only too glad of the opportunity of relieving the tedium of his surroundings in this rough uncultivated place by passing a few hours in the companionship of a man of his

y provided him with a window opening on to a hillside, which enables him to climb out of his own window and into the window of the next room. He gets in, murders Mr. Glenthorpe, secures his money, and, finding the key of his bedroom under the pillow, carries the body of his victim downstairs, and outside, cas

is refusal to have his boots cleaned, the incident of the ￡1 note, and the unshakable fact that t

t Mr. Glenthorpe showed him the money he had drawn from the bank at Heathfield, supplies a strong motive for the crime. In this connection you intend to try to establish that the Treasury note which Ronald left to pay his inn bill was one of those in Mr. Gl

morning? You were there, and saw it all. Does it seem strange to you that Ronald should have come straight to this inn and committed a murder after making that scene at the hotel? Do you think it suggests t

arrelled motive which underlay the superintendent's question, and he ha

better able to answer that

t up like an oyster-you know what these professional men are, with the

an countryman. "After all, it is only Sir Henry Durwood's opinion that Ronald intended violence at the Grand,

nd nobody noticed anything peculiar about him at the breakfast table except yourself and Sir Henry-and what happened? Nothing, except that he was a bit excited-and no wonder, after the young man had just been ordered to leave the hotel. Then Sir Henry grabbed hold of him and he fainted-or pretended to faint; it may have been all part of his game. Sir Henry may have though

dent Galloway had revealed the thoughts which had been passing through his mind. Bu

t enter into the police case against Ronald. It is your duty to deal with

ion was both amazed and indignant. "I'm as certain he committed the murder as if I

tantial evidence against him as proof of his guilt, instead of examining all the facts with an open mind. We are the investigators of the circumstances: it is not for us to prejudge. That is the worst of circumstantial evidence: it tends to prejudgment, and sometimes to the ignoring of circumstances and facts which

ou have been at the inn, which shakes

the case is much more complex and

loway. "Up to the present I have seen nothing to shake my conviction that Rona

t that I cannot reconcile Ronald's excitable conduct at the Durrington hotel with his supposed actions at the inn. In the former case he behaved like a man who, whether insane or merely excited, had not the slightest fear of

rjected the supe

me is why Ronald took the trouble to carry the

ut for the footprints it would probably have given him sev

the body downstairs in an occupied house, and across se

n this part of the country. I guarantee if you walked th

ld, a stranger to the place, know the locality of this

n Mr. Glenthorpe would tell him about the pit in the course of his conversation about the excavations. There is al

om. How did he discover that his bedroom, and the bedroom of Mr. Glenthorpe's adjoining,

counts. Or Ronald may have looked out of his window when he was retiring, and seen it for himself. I alw

urder, and you are allowing that belief to colour everything connected with the case. I am looking at this murder as a mystery which has not yet been solved, and, without excluding the possibility that Ronald is

apon it is not even established that this was the knife with which the murder was committed. It might have been some other knife. We must not take the waiter's story for granted until we have recovered the knife, and not necessarily then. But that story, as it stands, inclines to support the theory that the murder was committed by somebody in the inn. On the other hand, the theory of an outside murderer lends itself to a very plausible reconstruction of the crime. Suppose, for example, the murder had been committed by one of Mr. Glenthorpe's workmen, actuated by the dual motives of revenge and robbery, or by eit

"Still, it is worth putting to the test. I'll inquire in the morning if any of the village

is that we are enabled to fix the actual time of the murder with some degree of accuracy. It is always useful, in a case of murder, to be able to establish the approximate time a

as that?" asked the police office

r hand, the footprints from the inn to the pit are clear and distinct. Rain commenced to fall last night shortly before eleven, but it did not fall heavily until eleven o'clock. From then till half-past eleven it was a regular downpour, when it ceased, and it has not rained since. Now, the patches of red mud in the bedroom, and the obliteration of footprints outside the window, prove that the murderer entered the room during the storm, but the footprints leading to th

dent, who had been following the other's deductions with interest. "The

the pool. As a matter of fact, it did nothing of the kind. The wind was blowing the other way, and away from that s

do you account for t

iece of black material we found stic

t I do not see how you conne

er was carrying an umbrella-and an open umbrella-ha

pocket, and examined it closely: "Of course it's umbrella silk," he e

onclusive proof that the murderer was carrying the umbrella open, to shield him from the rain, and that it caught on the nail outside the window, tearing off the edge. He closed it as he got inside the window, and placed it near the window-sill, and the rain dripped off it

s bedroom. They help to establish two curious facts, the least important of which is that somebody tried to light the

ng overlooked the clue of the umbrella silk, and was human enough to be angry with the detective for opening his eyes to

g your eyes to facts hardly encourages me to proceed, but I'll try. Would yo

n match and a broken matchhead from it, and sat back eyeing the detective with a supercilious smile. Colwyn, after exam

ide," he said. "Yours were picked up alongside t

grease with the same supercilious smile. "I see them," h

ease? The pieces you picked up alongside the bed are tallo

ht it beneath his dignity to examine them again. "The murderer may have had two cand

"Both candle-grease, as you say," he returned sharply. "We do not seem to be mak