e first attacks upon Russell, Arthur Sloane's complacency at
never having treated him with common courtesy.

His thoughts went to Mrs. Brace and her blackmail schemes, as he had
interpreted or suspected them.

"If I'd had a little more time," he reflected, "I might have put my hand
on----"

His eyes rested on the envelope flap. His mind flashed to another and
new idea. His muscles stiffened; he put his hands on the arms of his
chair and slowly lifted himself up, the knife dropping from his fingers
and clattering on the floor. He stood erect and held both hands aloft, a
gesture of wide and growing wonder.

"Cripes!" he said aloud.

He picked up the grey paper with a hand that trembled. His pendent
cheeks puffed out like those of a man blowing a horn. He stared at the
paper again, before restoring it to its envelope, which he put back into
one of his pockets.

"Cripes!" he said again. "It's a place! Pursuit! That's where the----"

He became a whirlwind of action, covered the floor with springy step.
Taking a book of colossal size from a shelf, he whirled the pages,
running his finger down a column while he murmured,
"Pursuit--P-u-r--P-u--P-u----"

But there was no such name in the postal directory. He went back to
older directories. He began to worry. Was there no such postoffice as
Pursuit? He went to other books, whirling the pages, running down column
after column. And at last he got the information he sought.

Consulting a railroad folder, he found a train schedule that caused him
to look at his watch.

"Twenty-five minutes," he figured. "I'm going!"

He telephoned for a cab.

Then, seating himself at the table, he tore a sheet from a scratch-pad
and wrote:

"Don't lose sight of Mrs. Brace. Disregard Russell's arrest.

"Hendricks: the Sloanehurst people are members of the Arlington Golf
Club. Get a look at golf bags there. Did one, or two, contain piece or
pieces of a bed-slat?

"Gore: check up on Mrs. B.'s use of money.

"I'll be back Sunday."

He sealed the envelope into which he put that, and, addressing it to
Hendricks, left it lying on the table.

At the station he bought the afternoon newspapers and turned to Eugene
Russell's statement, made to the reporters immediately after his arrest.
It ran:

"I repeat that I'm innocent of the murder. Of course, I made a mistake
in omitting all mention of my having ridden the first four miles from
Sloanehurst. But, being innocent and knowing the wei