cts
was ranged.

"First I must introduce you to these little things," he said, setting
them out on the table. "Here is a big ivory paper-knife; here are two
leaves cut out of a diary--my own diary; here is a bottle containing
dentifrice; here is a little case of polished walnut. Some of these
things have to be put back where they belong in somebody's bedroom at
White Gables before night. That's the sort of man I am--nothing stops
me. I borrowed them this very morning when everyone was down at the
inquest, and I dare say some people would think it rather an odd
proceeding if they knew. Now there remains one object on the board. Can
you tell me, without touching it, what it is?"

"Certainly I can," said Mr. Cupples, peering at it with great interest.
"It is an ordinary glass bowl. It looks like a finger-bowl. I see
nothing odd about it," he added after some moments of close scrutiny.

"That," replied Trent, "is exactly where the fun comes in. Now take this
little fat bottle, Cupples, and pull out the cork. Do you recognize that
powder inside it? You have swallowed pounds of it in your time, I
expect. They give it to babies. Gray powder is its ordinary
name--mercury and chalk. It is great stuff. Now while I hold the basin
side-ways over this sheet of paper, I want you to pour a little powder
out of the bottle over this part of the bowl--just here.... Perfect! Sir
Edward Henry himself could not have handled the powder better. You have
done this before, Cupples, I can see. You are an old hand."

"I really am not," said Mr. Cupples seriously, as Trent returned the
fallen powder to the bottle. "I assure you it is all a complete mystery
to me. What did I do then?"

"I brush the powdered part of the bowl lightly with this camel-hair
brush. Now look at it again. You saw nothing odd about it before. Do you
see anything now?"

Mr. Cupples peered again. "How curious," he said. "Yes, there are two
large gray finger-marks on the bowl. They were not there before."

"I am Hawkshaw the detective," observed Trent. "Would it interest you to
hear a short lecture on the subject of glass finger-bowls? When you take
one up with your hand you leave traces upon it, usually practically
invisible, which may remain for days or months. You leave the marks of
your fingers. The human hand, even when quite clean, is never quite dry,
and sometimes--in moments of great anxiety, for instance, Cupples--it is
very moist. It leaves a mark on any cold