m the great wish of his heart. It was my duty to make up
to him in other ways for what I had felt obliged to do. I knew him for
a nervous, high-strung man, overwrought by brooding for years on what he
called his wrongs, and I did not know what he might do if I refused his
request. It was not of myself I thought in this connection, but of the
girl at home who looked to me for protection.

"I had no fear for myself; it never occurred to me to think of taking a
weapon with me. How my revolver--and it is undoubtedly my revolver, for
there was a peculiar break in the silver ornamentation on the handle
which is easily recognisable--how this revolver of mine got into his
room, is more than I can say. Until the Police Commissioner showed it to
me two or three days ago, I had no idea that it was not in the box in
my study where it is ordinarily kept." Graumann paused again and looked
about him as if searching for something. He rose and poured himself out
a glass of water. "Let me put some of this in it," said Muller. "It will
do you good." From a flask in his pocket he poured a few drops of brandy
into the water. Graumann drank it and nodded gratefully. Then he took up
his story again.

"I never discovered why Siders had sent for me. When I arrived at the
appointed time I found the door of the house closed. I was obliged to
ring several times before an old servant opened the door. She seemed
surprised that it had been locked. She said that the door was always
unlatched, and that Mr. Siders himself must have closed it, contrary to
all custom, for she had not done it, and there was no one else in the
house but the two of them. Siders was waiting for me at the top of the
stairs, calling down a noisy welcome.

"When I asked him finally what it was so important that he wanted to
say to me, he evaded me and continued to chatter on about commonplace
things. Finally I insisted upon knowing why he had wanted me to come,
and he replied that the reason for it had already been fulfilled, that
he had nothing more to say, and that I could go as soon as I wanted to.
He appeared quite calm, but he must have been very nervous. For as I
stood by the desk, telling him what I thought of his actions, he moved
his hand hastily among the papers there and upset the ink stand. I
jumped back, but not before I had received several large spots of ink on
my trousers. He was profuse in his apologies for the accident, and tried
to take out the spots with bl