"The meaning is," said Tarling shortly, "that I have been attacked
to-night by a man of your build and height, who fired twice at me at
close quarters. I have a warrant--" Mr. Milburgh's eyes narrowed--"I
have a warrant to search this house."

"For what?" demanded Milburgh boldly.

"For a revolver or an automatic pistol and anything else I can find."

Milburgh rose.

"You're at liberty to search the house from end to end," he said.
"Happily, it is a small one, as my salary does not allow of an expensive
establishment."

"Do you live here alone?" asked Tarling.

"Quite," replied Milburgh. "A woman comes in at eight o'clock to-morrow
morning to cook my breakfast and make the place tidy, but I sleep here
by myself. I am very much hurt," he was going on.

"You will be hurt much worse," said Tarling dryly and proceeded to the
search.

It proved to be a disappointing one, for there was no trace of any
weapon, and certainly no trace of the little red slips which he had
expected to find in Milburgh's possession. For he was not searching for
the man who had assailed him, but for the man who had killed Thornton
Lyne.

He came back to the little sitting-room where Milburgh had been left with
the Inspector and apparently he was unruffled by his failure.

"Now, Mr. Milburgh," he said brusquely, "I want to ask you: Have you ever
seen a piece of paper like this before?"

He took a slip from his pocket and spread it on the table. Milburgh
looked hard at the Chinese characters on the crimson square, and then
nodded.

"You have?" said Tarling in surprise.

"Yes, sir," said Mr. Milburgh complacently. "I should be telling an
untruth if I said I had not. Nothing is more repugnant to me than to
deceive anybody."

"That I can imagine," said Tarling.

"I am sorry you are sarcastic, Mr. Tarling," said the reproachful
Milburgh, "but I assure you that I hate and loathe an untruth."

"Where have you seen these papers?"

"On Mr. Lyne's desk," was the surprising answer

"On Lyne's desk?"

Milburgh nodded.

"The late Mr. Thornton Lyne," he said, "came back from the East with a
great number of curios, and amongst them were a number of slips of paper
covered with Chinese characters similar to this. I do not understand
Chinese," he said, "because I have never had occasion to go to China. The
characters may have been different one from the other, but to my
unsophisticated eye they all look alike."

"You've seen these slips o