nd steady, Tertius--leave out nothing!"

"Nothing!" repeated Mr. Tertius solemnly. "Nothing! You shall hear
all. And this it is--point by point, from last night until--until
the present moment. That is--so far as I know. There may have been
developments--somewhere else. But this is what I know."

When Mr. Tertius had finished a detailed and thorough-going account of
the recent startling discovery and subsequent proceedings, to all of
which Professor Cox-Raythwaite listened in profound silence, he rose,
and tip-toeing towards the bag, motioned his friend to follow him.

"Now, my dear sir," he said, whispering in his excitement as if he
feared lest the very retorts and crucibles and pneumatic troughs should
hear him, "Now, my dear sir, I wish you to see for yourself. First of
all, the glass. I will take it out myself--I know exactly how I put it
in. I take it out--thus! I place it on this vacant space--thus. Look for
yourself, my dear fellow. What do you see?"

The Professor, watching Mr. Tertius's movements with undisguised
interest, took off his spectacles, picked up a reading-glass, bent down
and carefully examined the tumbler.

"Yes," he said, after a while, "yes, Tertius, I certainly see distinct
thumb and finger-marks round the upper part of this glass. Oh, yes--no
doubt of that!"

"Allow me to take one of your clean specimen slides," observed Mr.
Tertius, picking up a square of highly polished glass. "There! I place
this slide here and upon it I deposit this sandwich. Now, my dear
Cox-Raythwaite, favour me by examining the sandwich even more closely
than you did the glass--if necessary."

But the Professor shook his head. He clapped Mr. Tertius on the
shoulder.

"Excellent!" he exclaimed. "Good! Pooh!--no need for care there. The
thing's as plain as--as I am. Good, Tertius, good!"

"You see it?" said Mr. Tertius, delightedly.

"See it! Good Lord, why, who could help see it?" answered the Professor.
"Needs no great amount of care or perception to see that, as I said. Of
course, I see it. Glad you did, too!"

"But we must take the greatest care of it," urged Mr. Tertius. "The most
particular care. That's why I came to you. Now, what can we do? How
preserve this sandwich--just as it is?"

"Nothing easier," replied the Professor. "We'll soon fix that. We'll put
it in such safety that it will still be a fresh thing if it remains
untouched until London Bridge falls down from sheer decay."

He moved off to