gle.

"Once more the alarm was given, and once again the whole College, wild
with excitement, hastened to the scene of the outrage.

"This time there was a double mystery. Brady had been murdered--Hartnoll
had disappeared. The police were summoned and the whole building
ransacked; but no one thought of the chimney till the search was nearly
over, and half the throng--overcome with fatigue--had retired. O'Farroll
was the discoverer. Happening to glance at the hearth he saw something
drop.

"'For Heaven's sake, you fellows!' he shouted. 'Look! Blood! You may
take it from me there's a corpse in the chimney.'

"A dozen candles invaded the hearth, and a herculean policeman undertook
the ascent. In breathless silence the crowd below waited, and, after a
few seconds of intense suspense, two helpless legs appeared on the hob.
Bit by bit, the rest of the body followed, until, at length, the whole
figure of Hartnoll, black, bleeding, bloodstained, was disclosed to
view.

"At first it was thought that he was dead; but the surgeon who had
hurried to the scene pronouncing him still alive, there arose a
tremendous cheer. The murderer had at all events been foiled this time.

"'Begorrah!' cried O'Farroll, 'Hartnoll was after the murderer when he
was struck, and shure I'll be after him the same way myself.' And before
anyone could prevent him O'Farroll was up the chimney. Up, up, up, until
he found himself going down, down, down; and then--bedad--he stepped
right out on to the floor of Belton's room.

"'Hulloa!' the latter exclaimed, looking not a bit disconcerted, 'that's
a curious mode of making your entrance into my domain! Why didn't you
come by the door?'

"'Because,' O'Farroll replied, pointing to a patch of soot near the
washstand, 'I followed you. Own up, Dicky Belton. You're the
culprit--you did for them all.' And Belton laughed.

* * * * *

"Yes, it was true; overwork had turned Belton's brain, and he was
subsequently sent to a Criminal Lunatic Asylum for the rest of his life.
But there were moments when he was comparatively sane, and in these
interims he confessed everything. Anderson had told him that he was
going to hoax the Dean, and filled with indignation at the idea of such
a trick being played on a College official--for he, Belton, was a great
favourite with the 'Beaks'--he had accompanied Anderson on the plea of
helping him, intending, in reality, to frustrate him. It was no