legend BIKEROS; over the head of his tall assailant was written
BRANSKOMOS. The person sitting and embracing the captive's knees was
labelled KLIPSTONOS, while the mysterious figure in the rear, pointing
out the dungeon, bore the name of MUNGEROS. Over the door itself was
written BOOTBOX. Below the whole was written the first line of the
Iliad, and in the corner, in minute characters, were the words, "S.
_Branscombe, inv. et del_."

Railsford stared at the strange work of art in blank amazement. What
could it mean? At first he was disposed to smile at the performance as
a harmless jest; but a moment's consideration convinced him that, jest
or not, he held in his hand the long-sought clue to the Bickers mystery
which had troubled the peace of Grandcourt for the last term.

Here, in the hand of the chief offender himself, was a pictorial record
of that grievous outrage, and here, denounced, by himself in letters of
Greek, were the names for which all the school had suffered. The Master
of the Shell seemed to be in a dream. Branscombe and Clipstone, the
head prefects of Bickers's own house I and Munger, the ill-conditioned
toady of Railsford's!

His first feelings of excitement and astonishment were succeeded by
others of alarm and doubt. The murder was out, but how? He knew the
great secret at last, but by what means? His eyes turned to the
restless sufferer on the bed, and a flush of crimson came to his face as
he realised that he had no more right to that secret than he had to the
purse which lay on the table. He had opened the desk to look for an
address, and nothing more. If, instead of that address, he had
accidentally found somebody else's secret, what right had he--a man of
honour and a gentleman--to use it, even if by doing so he could redress
one of the greatest grievances in Grandcourt?

He thrust the picture back into the desk, and wished from the bottom of
his heart he had never seen it. Mechanically he finished tidying the
room, and clearing away to the adjoining study as much as possible of
the superfluous furniture. Then with his own hands he lit the fire and
carried out the various instructions of the doctor as to the steaming of
the air in the room and the preparation of the nourishment for the
invalid.

Branscombe woke once during the interval and asked hoarsely, "What bell
was that?"

Then, without waiting for an answer, he said,--

"All right, all right, I'll get up in a second,"