orpe committed to take his trial, he went away from Bow Street,
alone, thinking more deeply than ever. He walked home to his house in
Endsleigh Gardens, head bent, hands clasped behind his big back, the
very incarnation of deep and ponderous musing. He shut himself in his
study; he threw himself into his easy chair before his hearth; he
remained smoking infinite tobacco, staring into vacancy, until his
dinner-bell rang. He roused himself to eat and drink; then he went out
into the street, bought all the evening newspapers he could lay hands
on, and, hailing a taxi-cab, drove to Portman Square.

Peggie, Mr. Tertius, and Selwood had just dined; they were sitting in a
quiet little parlour, silent and melancholy. The disgrace of Barthorpe's
arrest, of the revelations before coroner and magistrate, of his
committal on the capital charge, had reduced Peggie to a state of
intense misery; the two men felt hopelessly unable to give her any
comfort. To both, the entrance of Cox-Raythwaite came as a positive
relief.

Cox-Raythwaite, shown into the presence of these three, closed the door
in a fashion which showed that he did not wish to be disturbed, came
silently across the room, and drew a chair into the midst of the
disconsolate group. His glance round commanded attention.

"Now, my friends," he said, plunging straight into his subject, "if we
don't wish to see Barthorpe hanged, we've just got to stir ourselves!
I've come here to begin the stirring."

Peggie looked up with a sudden heightening of colour. Mr. Tertius slowly
shook his head.

"Pitiable!" he murmured. "Pitiable, most pitiable! But the evidence, my
dear Cox-Raythwaite, the evidence! I only wish----"

"I've been listening to all the evidence that could be brought before
coroner's jury and magistrate in police court," broke in the Professor.
"Listening with all my ears until I know every scrap of it by heart. And
for four solid hours this afternoon I've been analysing it. I'm going to
analyse it to you--and then I'll show you why it doesn't satisfy me.
Give me your close attention, all of you."

He drew a little table to his elbow, laid his bundle of papers upon it,
and began to talk, checking off his points on the tips of his big,
chemical-stained fingers.

"Now," he said, "we'll just go through the evidence which has been
brought against these two men, Barthorpe and Burchill, which evidence
has resulted in Barthorpe being committed for trial and in the poli