tters he told Birchill to force
open the desk, as he would probably find money or papers of value there.
But in order to prevent Birchill getting the letters if he should happen
to stumble across the secret drawer, Hill removed them the day before.
His plan was to go to Riversbrook in the morning after the burglary, and
after leaving open the secret drawer which had contained the letters, to
report the burglary to the police. When Sir Horace came home unexpectedly
Hill had just removed the letters and had them in his possession. Hill
was greatly perturbed at his master's unexpected return, and had to get
an opportunity to replace the letters in the secret drawer, but Sir
Horace told him to go home, as he was not wanted till the morning. Hill
went to that girl's flat in Westminster, and there saw Birchill. He told
Birchill that Sir Horace had returned unexpectedly, but he urged Birchill
to carry out the burglary as arranged, and assured him that as Sir Horace
was a heavy sleeper there would be no risk if he waited until Sir Horace
went to bed. Hill's position was that if the burglary was postponed Sir
Horace might make the discovery that the letters had been stolen from the
secret drawer. In that case Sir Horace would immediately suspect Hill,
who, he knew, was an ex-convict. It was just possible that Sir Horace,
before going to bed, would discover that the letters had been
stolen--that is, if he went to bed before Birchill got into the
place--but Hill had to take that risk.

It was the fact that the burglary Hill had arranged with Birchill took
place on the night Sir Horace was killed that had given rise to the false
clues which had misled the police. Crewe, as he himself modestly put it,
was so fortunate as to get on the right track from the start. His
suspicions were directed to Holymead when he saw the latter carrying away
a walking-stick from Riversbrook after his visit of condolence to Miss
Fewbanks. Crewe explained what tactics he had adopted to obtain a brief
inspection of the stick in order to ascertain for his own satisfaction if
it had belonged to Holymead. His suspicions against Holymead were
strengthened when he discovered that the latter, when driving to his
hotel on the night of the tragedy, had thrown away a glove which was the
fellow of the one found by the police in Sir Horace's library.

"The next point to settle was whether Holymead had had anything to do
with your father's sudden return from Scotland