ble the impress of his hand on the
mahogany was deeper on one side than the other. The man was obviously
top heavy. But you abandoned this first theory."

"Certainly, Mr. Kent, we always do. Our second theory was----"

But Kent had ceased to listen. He had suddenly stooped down and picked
up something off the floor.

"Ha ha!" he exclaimed. "What do you make of this?" He held up a square
fragment of black cloth.

"We never saw it," said Edwards.

"Cloth," muttered Kent, "the missing piece of Kivas Kelly's dinner
jacket." He whipped out a magnifying glass. "Look," he said, "it's been
stamped upon--by a man wearing hob-nailed boots--made in Ireland--a man
of five feet nine and a half inches high----"

"One minute, Mr. Kent," interrupted the Inspector, greatly excited, "I
don't quite get it."

"The depth of the dint proves the lift of his foot," said Kent
impatiently, "and the lift of the foot indicates at once the man's
height. Edwards, find me the man who wore these boots and the mystery is
solved!"

At that very moment a heavy step, unmistakably to the trained ear that
of a man in hob-nailed boots, was heard upon the stair. The door opened
and a man stood hesitating in the doorway.

Both Kent and Edwards gave a start, two starts, of surprise.

The man was exactly five feet nine and a half inches high. He was
dressed in coachman's dress. His face was saturnine and evil.

It was Dennis, the coachman of the murdered man.

"If you're Mr. Kent," he said, "there's a lady here asking for you."

CHAPTER VII

OH, MR. KENT, SAVE ME!

In another moment an absolutely noiseless step was heard upon the
stair.

A young girl entered, a girl, tall, willowy and beautiful, in the first
burst, or just about the first burst, of womanhood.

It was Alice Delary.

She was dressed with extreme taste, but Kent's quick eye noted at once
that she wore no hat.

"Mr. Kent," she cried, "you are Mr. Kent, are you not? They told me that
you were here. Oh, Mr. Kent, help me, save me!"

She seemed to shudder into herself a moment. Her breath came and went
quickly.

She reached out her two hands.

"Calm yourself, my dear young lady," said Kent, taking them. "Don't let
your breath come and go so much. Trust me. Tell me all."

"Mr. Kent," said Delary, regaining her control, but still trembling, "I
want my hat."

Kent let go the beautiful girl's hands. "Sit down," he said. Then he
went across the room and fetched the h