The Argosy, June 1904 — page 62: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

548 lips. But I scarcely forgave myself the lie—for 1t was a he. Watson Ward was right, absolutely right, except in one small particular— the sex of the person who had carried the body on to the roof. The strong, muscular individual was known to me—AZairbeni. What puzzled me was how the detec- tive could possibly have found out as much as he had done. I felt a certain constraint, did not like to ask him. But Kane was more inquisitive, or perhaps not so sensitive. “You make your assertion, Ir. Ward,” he said, speaking with a note of reluctance in his voice, “in such a way that you convince me.” “Rather a sudden change that. Jtx- tremes are dangerous, you know a “ve faith in you,” interrupted IKKane. “And therefore, although it seems opposed to what lttle common sense I possess, I believe you.” “Come!” Ward spoke good humor- edly. “'That’s checring, now! I don’t meet with that blind, beautiful belief of yours every day.” “Well, as 1 possess it,’ answered Kane, “tell me now, how have you found out what evidently the police missed finding? ” “The police,’ said Ward, “ perhaps do not look so closely into matters as they might. I have found it pays me to cultivate the habit of observation. I have so accustomed myself to it that 1t has become second nature. I noticed little things in my superficial examina- tion of these rooms, and they convinced me that not only was the body carried through the skylight, but by a very strong, muscular man.” “Youre a regular Sherlock Holmes!” “Oh, don’t say that, please.” The detective affected dismay. “ Were there a veritable Sherlock Holmes, and he carried his story-book methods into every-day life, he would go bankrupt on his failures—would score a hundred de- feats to one victory. The power of ob- servation 18 priceless; but it must be erafted on common sense. That is the real tree of knowledge, and only then it flourishes.” “But really now, Mr. Watson Ward, how did you discover this? Tell me— PRODUCED BY UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED THE ARGOSY. I am as full of curiosity as a monkey is of mischief.” “JI arrived at it by simple deduction. When I stood on those steps to examine the eat, I was standing, as it were, in the frame of a picture—the frame of the skyhght. To an observant man there were things to view all round. Naturally I examined that skylight: what I saw of the frame-work made me investigate further. Then I saw that— despite the fact that the padlock was so rusty that you had to oil it, and the in- teligence of the police had found cob- webs spun from frame to glass ”—the detective’s smile came to the surface again—“*I saw that some singularly muscular person had stood as I stood “You could tell that!” “Yes. Because not only the sky- leht, but the frame on which it was hinged—on which it rested, and to which it was padlocked—had been ripped up from its base—which is prac- tically the roof itself.” “ Ts-—it—possible ! ” “Quite—with a very strong person handling the thing to be lifted.” “There might have been more than one man! Eh? In that case your theory wouldn’t hold water, Mr. Ward, would it?” — The detective smiled at Kane’s sug- gestion. He scemed to have a way of brushing aside objections in that simple fashion. “Quite true,” he answered. “If there had been room for more than one man! But the manner in which the woodwork had been ripped up, taken in conjunction with the proximity of the chimney stack, showed me clearly that not more than one person could work in that direction at a time.” “T see.” “When the strong, muscular man had completed his task, before he went away he replaced the padlocked frame- work he had lifted. There again his strength came into play: he forced it back into the position in which he had found it so cleverly that, if you hadn't opened the skylight yourself, I should never have discovered his handiwork.” “But how then r “The framework is solid, heavy COLN coooks.com