between Robert and Cayley. But how could Robert be there without Mark
knowing? Obviously, Mark knew too. What did it all mean?"

"When was this?" interrupted Bill. "Just after the inquest--after you'd
seen Amos and Parsons, of course?"

"Yes. I got up and left them, and came to look for you. I'd got back to
the clothes then. Why did Mark change his clothes so secretly? Disguise?
But then what about his face? That was much more important than clothes.
His face, his beard--he'd have to shave off his beard--and then--oh,
idiot! I saw you looking at that poster. Mark acting, Mark made-up, Mark
disguised. Oh, priceless idiot! Mark was Robert.... Matches, please."

Bill passed over the matches again, waited till Antony had relit his
pipe, and then held out his hand for them, just as they were going into
the other's pocket.

"Yes," said Bill thoughtfully. "Yes.... But wait a moment. What about
the 'Plough and Horses'?" Antony looked comically at him.

"You'll never forgive me, Bill," he said. "You'll never come
clue-hunting with me again."

"What do you mean?"

Antony sighed.

"It was a fake, Watson. I wanted you out of the way. I wanted to be
alone. I'd guessed at my x, and I wanted to test it--to test it every
way, by everything we'd discovered. I simply had to be alone just then.
So--" he smiled and added, "Well, I knew you wanted a drink."

"You are a devil," said Bill, staring at him. "And your interest when I
told you that a woman had been staying there--"

"Well, it was only polite to be interested when you'd taken so much
trouble."

"You brute! You--you Sherlock! And then you keep trying to steal my
matches. Well, go on."

"That's all. My x fitted."

"Did you guess Miss Norris and all that?"

"Well, not quite. I didn't realize that Cayley had worked for it from
the beginning--had put Miss Norris up to frightening Mark. I thought
he'd just seized the opportunity."

Bill was silent for a long time. Then, puffing at his pipe, he said
slowly, "Has Cayley shot himself?"

Antony shrugged his shoulders.

"Poor devil," said Bill. "It was decent of you to give him a chance. I'm
glad you did."

"I couldn't help liking Cayley in a kind of way, you know."

"He's a clever devil. If you hadn't turned up just when you did, he
would never have been found out."

"I wonder. It was ingenious, but it's often the ingenious thing which
gets found out. The awkward thing from Cayley's point of view was that,
thoug