ille
Bonham.

"Varner says he saw--saw!--a man's hand, a gentleman's hand," insisted
Sackville. "He saw a white shirt cuff, a bit of the sleeve of a coat.
You're not going to get over that, you know. He's certain of it!"

"Varner may be as certain of it as he likes," answered Archdale, almost
indifferently, "and still he may be mistaken. The probability is that
Varner was confused by what he saw. He may have had a white shirt cuff
and the sleeve of a black coat impressed upon him, as in a flash--and
they were probably those of the man who was killed. If, as I suggest,
the man slipped, and was shot out of that open doorway, he would execute
some violent and curious movements in the effort to save himself in
which his arms would play an important part. For one thing, he would
certainly throw out an arm--to clutch at anything. That's what Varner
most probably saw. There's no evidence whatever that the man was flung
down."

Bryce turned away from the group of talkers to think over Archdale's
suggestion. If that suggestion had a basis of fact, it destroyed his own
theory that Ransford was responsible for the stranger's death. In
that case, what was the reason of Ransford's unmistakable agitation
on leaving the west porch, and of his attack--equally unmistakable--of
nerves in the surgery? But what Archdale had said made him inquisitive,
and after he had treated himself--in celebration of his freedom--to an
unusually good lunch at the Club, he went round to the Cathedral to make
a personal inspection of the gallery in the clerestory.

There was a stairway to that gallery in the corner of the south
transept, and Bryce made straight for it--only to find a policeman
there, who pointed to a placard on the turret door. "Closed, doctor--by
order of the Dean and Chapter," he announced. "Till further orders. The
fact was, sir," he went on confidentially, "after the news got out, so
many people came crowding in here and up to that gallery that the Dean
ordered all the entrances to be shut up at once--nobody's been allowed
up since noon."

"I suppose you haven't heard anything of any strange person being seen
lurking about up there this morning?" asked Bryce.

"No, sir. But I've had a bit of a talk with some of the vergers,"
replied the policeman, "and they say it's a most extraordinary thing
that none of them ever saw this strange gentleman go up there, nor even
heard any scuffle. They say--the vergers--that they were all about