vers. I'd put more than eight years of planning and hard work into
this scheme, and you'll admit, Boyne, that what I had was some alibi. A
wedding like that in a town of this size makes a big noise. I managed to
be back and forth so much that people got the idea I was hardly out of
Santa Ysobel. The Friday night before, I had a stag supper at my house,
and Saturday morning if any one had called, Fong Ling would have told
them I was sleeping late and couldn't be disturbed. On the forenoon of
my wedding day, then, I sat as Edward Clayte in my teller's cage, the
suitcase I had carried back and forth empty for so many Saturdays now
loaded with currency and securities, not one of which was traceable, and
whose amount I believed would run close to a million. It was within
three minutes of closing time, when some one rapped on the counter at my
wicket, and I looked straight up into the face of old Tom Gilbert.

"I saw a flash of doubtful recognition in his eyes, but didn't dare to
avoid them while counting bills and silver to pay his check. If I had
done so, he would certainly have known me. As it was, I saw that I
convinced him--almost. I watched him as he went out, saw him hesitate a
little at the door of Knapp's office--he wasn't quite sure enough. I
knew the man. The instant he made certain, he would act.

"The old devil wasn't on terms to attend the reception at the Thornhill
place, but I located him in an aisle seat, when I first came from the
vestry with my best man. All through the ceremony I felt his eyes boring
into my back. When I finally faced him, as Ina and I walked out, man and
wife, I knew he recognized me, and almost expected him to step out and
denounce me. But no--a fellow leading a double life was all he saw in
it; bigamy was the worst he'd suspect me of at the moment. He didn't
give Ina much, wouldn't lift a finger to defend her.

"Meantime, the manner of his taking off lay easy to my hand. I'd studied
the situation through that skylight, seen Ed Hughes juggle the bolts
with his magnets, and mapped the thing out. Gilbert killed there, the
room found bolted, was a cinch for suicide. When the reception at the
Thornhill house was over, I made an excuse of something needed for the
journey, and started across to my bungalow. It was common for all of us
to cross through the lawns; I hid in the shrubbery.

"There were people with Gilbert, no chance for me to do anything. I
stood there and nearly went out of my