ere is also some
roof paint, from the edge of the roof of Miller's Folly."

He looked at the notes he and Matthews had made. He continued:
"Mr. Brasher, the rope prior to its use around the chimney of
Miller's Folly was for a considerable time at a farm or farmyard,
where you will find the following:

"A boxwood hedge, of the species _B. sempervirens_, the common box.

"One or more pear trees.

"You will find these shrubs," handing him a list.

"On that farm there are two horses, a bay and sorrel.

"There is a black and white cow.

"There are some leghorn chickens.

"There is a collie dog."

McCall, Jimmy and Brasher were startled. They stared at the old
man in disbelief. McCall said:

"Oh, I say, Professor, see here--" He stopped. He saw Matthews grin
and wink at Jimmy. Professor Brierly was oblivious to the
interruption. He continued:

"The fish line contains all the characteristics of the rope, but
was not at that place for so long a time." He looked once more at
his slip of paper.

"I forgot to mention that a stream of water runs through or
adjacent to the place where these ropes were kept."

He looked once more at his notes and shook his head.

"The twine," he said slowly, "was also at that place for a
considerable length of time. In addition, it appears to have been
for some time in a hat factory, where felt hats are made; in a
part of a hat factory where a good deal of the fur from the felt
hats is in constant motion. I am not familiar with hat factories,
but it must be in a branch of the factory, where the hat is worked
after it has been dyed."

He caught the detective's look of astonishment.

"Really, Mr. Brasher, there is nothing remarkable about this. Your
feat of finding the rope was far more meritorious, both the
reasoning and the actual finding of the rope. What John and I did
just now was absurdly simple.

"All you need do now, Mr. Brasher, is find a man, probably a
left-handed man, who lives on a place such as I described, who owns a
motorcycle who cannot account for the time in which we know Mr.
Miller was killed; who either worked in or had access to a hat
factory; a man who has a pair of climbing irons and you have the
murderer."

"Oh, yeah, is that all?"

Professor Brierly bristled.

"What is there difficult about that? That should be simple. Surely
there are not a great many farms or farmyards that comply with all
the conditions I enumerated. Surely that should be merely