nnuendo in the other's tone, and it was with
difficulty that she restrained herself.

"I don't think it is a good story," said the inspector frankly; "but
that is between ourselves. And then, of course," he went on, "we have
the remarkable behavior of Sergeant Smith."

"Where is he?" asked Mr. Mann.

The inspector shrugged his shoulders.

"Sergeant Smith has disappeared," he said, "though I dare say we shall
find him before long. He is only one; the most puzzling element of all
is the fourth man concerned, the man who arrived in the motor car and
who was evidently Mr. Rex Holland. We have got a very full description
of him."

"I also have a very full description of him," said Mr. Mann quietly;
"but I've been unable to identify him with any of the people in my
records."

"Anyway, it was his car; there is no doubt about that."

"And he was the murderer," said Mr. Mann. "I've no doubt about that, nor
have you."

"I have doubts about everything," replied the inspector diplomatically.

"What was in the car?" asked the little man brightly. He was rapidly
recovering his good humor.

"That I am afraid I cannot tell you," smiled the detective.

"Then I'll tell you," said Saul Arthur Mann, and, stepping up to his
desk, took a memorandum from a drawer. "There were two motor rugs, two
holland coats, one white, one brown. There were two sets of motor
goggles. There was a package of revolver cartridges, from which six had
been extracted, a leather revolver holster, a small garden trowel, and
one or two other little things."

Inspector Nash swore softly under his breath.

"I'm blessed if I know how you found all that out," he said, with a
little asperity in his voice. "The car was not touched or searched until
we came on the scene, and, beyond myself and Sergeant Mannering of my
department, nobody knows what the car contained."

Saul Arthur Mann smiled, and it was a very happy and triumphant smile.

"You see, I know!" he purred. "That is one point in Merrill's favor."

"Yes," agreed the detective, and smiled.

"Why do you smile, Mr. Nash?" asked the little man suspiciously.

"I was thinking of a county policeman who seems to have some
extraordinary theories on the subject."

"Oh, you mean Wiseman," said Mann, with a grin. "I've interviewed that
gentleman. There is a great detective lost in him, Inspector."

"It is lost, all right," said the detective laconically. "Wiseman is
very certain that Merrill committed