might give
his brain the one little hint which it wanted. Inspector Birch was just
pursuing the ordinary. Whatever else this case was, it was not ordinary.
There was something uncanny about it.

John Borden was giving evidence. He was on the up platform seeing a
friend off by the 3.55 on Tuesday afternoon. He had noticed a man on the
platform with coat collar turned up and a scarf round his chin. He had
wondered why the man should do this on such a hot day. The man seemed to
be trying to escape observation. Directly the train came in, he hurried
into a carriage. And so on.

"There's always a John Borden at every murder case," said Antony to
himself.

"Have you ever seen Mark Ablett?"

"Once or twice, sir."

"Was it he?"

"I never really got a good look at him, sir, what with his collar turned
up and the scarf and all. But directly I heard of the sad affair, and
that Mr. Ablett was missing, I said to Mrs. Borden, 'Now I wonder if
that was Mr. Ablett I saw at the station?' So then we talked it over and
decided that I ought to come and tell Inspector Birch. It was just Mr.
Ablett's height, sir."

Antony went on with his thoughts....

The Coroner was summing up. The jury, he said, had now heard all the
evidence and would have to decide what had happened in that room between
the two brothers. How had the deceased met his death? The medical
evidence would probably satisfy them that Robert Ablett had died from
the effects of a bullet-wound in the head. Who had fired that bullet?
If Robert Ablett had fired it himself, no doubt they would bring in
a verdict of suicide, but if this had been so, where was the revolver
which had fired it, and what had become of Mark Ablett? If they
disbelieved in this possibility of suicide, what remained? Accidental
death, justifiable homicide, and murder. Could the deceased have been
killed accidentally? It was possible, but then would Mark Ablett have
run away? The evidence that he had run away from the scene of the crime
was strong. His cousin had seen him go into the room, the servant Elsie
Wood had heard him quarrelling with his brother in the room, the door
had been locked from the inside, and there were signs that outside
the open window some one had pushed his way very recently through the
shrubbery. Who, if not Mark? They would have then to consider whether he
would have run away if he had been guiltless of his brother's death. No
doubt innocent people lost their heads sometim