ctive's farewell observation. Jason had asked him if he was
satisfied with the progress made to date or whether he was discouraged
by the present lull which so closely resembled stagnation. Could he
say when the mystery might take some definite turn toward solution?

"Ask me when the millennium is coming and be done with it," said
Creighton rather plaintively, wondering why so many people seemed to
credit detectives with oracular powers. "If Norvallis has the right
pig by the ear, Maxon may break down, turn State's evidence and hang
his accomplice. That's one possibility. Another--we may as well face
it--is that this case will go to swell the great army of unsolved
mysteries." He hesitated, then added, "There's a third possibility, of
course."

"What is it?"

"The chance that a break will come from some totally unexpected quarter
when we've all but given up hope. I've seen that happen a score of
times. There's no predicting it--no counting on it. But when it
comes--then look out! A case that has been placid and smooth as a mill
pond will suddenly develop the characteristics of a maelstrom!" He
smiled encouragement at the troubled Jason. "If one starts in this
case, we may reasonably expect that its gurgitations will yield us that
missing notebook if nothing more."

He was on foot that afternoon by choice, for he had long held that a
daily walk is the best exercise for a man whose profession does not in
itself provide him with much physical activity. He preferred it to
gymnasium stuff, too; a man can think deeply while walking with perfect
safety, if he avoids traffic, whereas the hospitals are full of
misguided gentlemen who have committed the error of thinking deeply on
some other subject while engaged, say, in "skinning the cat."

He had much to make him thoughtful these days. He was not at all
satisfied with the situation in this Varr case, though he refrained
from revealing his pessimism to others, and was reluctantly coming to
fear that Norvallis had indeed gotten the jump on him--and jumped in
the right direction. The possibility irritated him. He wished to
clear up this murder himself more than he had ever wished for anything
in his life. Wasn't Miss Ocky waiting confidently for him to do just
that?

The intrusion of her name into his thoughts turned them into a new
channel. He knew now that before he dropped his personal supervision
of this case, before he left Hambleton for New York to