ile, however, as the personalities of the different
witnesses faded from my mind and the vivid impression I had brought away
from the scene of the court-room grew dim, I succeeded in concentrating
my attention on the subject in the abstract. I now concluded to review
the whole case and to determine upon what, if any, reasonable theories
Winters could be innocent.

The strength of the case against him was plain. The Inspector's method
of procedure had been such as to present it strongly and allow of no
part being overlooked; and I recognized also that the evidence had
probably all been true and that any effort to reach a different
conclusion would have to be premised upon an admission of his facts and
be made consistent with them. I had set myself a hard task, but its very
difficulties only incited me to greater effort.

While the evidence against Winters was very strong it was not
conclusive. This much I felt, and I, therefore, meant to proceed upon
the theory of his innocence.

The facts were that he had been at White's house that night and that he
had possession of one of the bills Van Bult had left on the table, but
it did not necessarily follow from them that he had killed White. He
might have taken the money, while he slept, and without disturbing him.
Such an hypothesis was consistent at the same time with the facts and
with Winters's innocence.

Such being the case why should he not be innocent? These two facts, his
presences at the house and possession of the bill, were in reality all
that had actually been proved against him, although as the evidence had
been presented at the hearing, it had seemed almost conclusive of his
guilt.

Having reached this conclusion it still remained necessary, in order to
make his innocence a reasonable hypothesis, to demonstrate in some way
that some one else had probably been there that night also; and thus
make possible another theory of the murder.

There was one fact in the case that I thought did suggest--sufficiently
at least for argument--the presence of a second person on the scene.

Van Bult had left four fifty-dollar bills on the table, and of these
only one had been traced to Winters, and the remaining three were
missing and unaccounted for. If it could be demonstrated with reasonable
certainty that Winters had not taken them, it must follow that some one
else had done so, and the presence of this other party would thus be
established.

Under these conditions,