ickly.

"Swain's name is in the index," I said, and he glanced at it, and then
turned to the place where the page had been.

"Which reminds me," said Hinman, with a rueful smile, "that I
concocted a very pretty theory to account for that missing page. I
felt quite chesty about it! I'm glad it didn't throw Miss Vaughan off
the scent!"

"So am I!" agreed Godfrey, "for it must have been this missing page
which gave Miss Vaughan her first suspicion of the truth. Perhaps it
was pure inspiration--or perhaps she knew that Silva could reproduce
finger-prints. We shall learn when we hear her story. In any event,
it's a clever trick--and easy enough when you know how!"

"Like standing the egg on end," I suggested.

"Precisely. Every trick is easy when you work it backwards. But just
think, Simmonds," he added, "what problems the police will have to
face, if gloves like these become fashionable among cracksmen!"

Simmonds groaned dismally.

"You haven't told us yet how it's done," he said.

I bit back a smile, for Simmonds's tone was that of pupil to master.

"Well," said Godfrey, slowly, "it might be done in several ways. The
first thing is to get a good set of the prints to be reproduced. That
Silva got from this album. The moulds might be made by cutting them in
wood or metal; but that would take an expert--and besides, I fancy it
would be too slow for Silva. He had a quicker way than that--perhaps
by transferring them to a plate of zinc or copper and then eating them
out with acid. Once the mould is secured, it is merely a question of
pressing india-rubber-mixture into it and then heating the rubber
until it hardens--just as a rubber-stamp is made. The whole process
would take only a few hours."

Simmonds drew a deep breath.

"It may be simple," he said, "but that fellow's a genius, just the
same. He's much too clever to be at large. We've got to get him!"

"Be sure of one thing," retorted Godfrey. "You'll find it harder to
catch him than it was to let him go! He won't walk into your arms. Not
that I blame you, Simmonds," he added; "but I blame those
muckle-headed men of yours--and I blame myself for not keeping my eyes
open. Here's the glove--take good care of it. It means Swain's
acquittal. And now there is one other thing I want to see before we go
to bed. Suppose we make a little excursion to the roof."

"To the roof? What for?" demanded Simmonds, as he wrapped the glove in
his handkerchief and put it in hi