himself, and then the Chinaman, after committing the murder, may
have been unable to find it. That would account for Li Min's subsequent
search of the room, and his confederates' actions when they began to
suspect, as Li Min no doubt did when he saw me remove the cake of soap,
that the emerald was hidden within it."

"You are right in what you say, Mr. Morgan, if Mr. Ashton hid the jewel
himself. But the subsequent actions of Li Min and his confederates are
equally explainable upon the theory that they had nothing to do with the
murder whatever, and were merely attempting to steal the jewel at the
first opportunity."

I made no reply. They seemed to be weaving a net of circumstantial
evidence about me that, try as I would, I did not seem able to break
through.

"We have alluded," continued the Inspector, "to your sympathy with Miss
Temple, to the use of her handkerchief to hold the bits of soap, to the
fact that you alone heard Mr. Ashton's cry and alarmed the house, to
your presence in the murdered man's room at a time when you could
readily have bolted the window from within, to your strange failure to
mention the matter of the cake of soap to Sergeant McQuade, and to the
fact that the jewel was found in your possession. We now come to another
curious fact, which we trust you may be able to explain satisfactorily.
The weapon with which this murder was apparently committed was found
this morning, locked in a drawer in the room you occupied at Major
Temple's house. It was wrapped in a handkerchief marked with your
initials. Can you tell us how it came to be there?"

I turned to the Inspector with a bitter laugh. "I can tell you," I
replied, "but, I presume, you will not believe me. I put the weapon,
which was a brass-headed poker, there myself. I found it on the lawn
outside of Mr. Ashton's window, the day before yesterday."

"Why did you also conceal this important piece of evidence from Sergeant
McQuade?" demanded the Inspector in a stern voice.

I felt like a fool, and looked like one, as well, I fear. "I forgot it,"
I mumbled in confusion.

"You forgot it!" The Inspector believed that I was lying, and showed
it. "Can you expect a sane man to believe any such folly as that?"

"Folly, or not," I replied, "it is the truth. I found the poker the day
before yesterday, late in the afternoon. I intended to show it privately
to Sergeant McQuade. He was in Exeter at the time and I placed it in the
drawer for safe k