, but what makes him think so? He
says I told him I had his ax; that I told him so again and again. Once
more, Mr. Paynter here pulled up the ax out of the well; but how? I
think Mr. Paynter will testify that I brought him the tackle for fishing
it up, tackle he might never have got in any other way. Curious, is
it not? Again, the ax is found to be wrapped in lint that was in my
possession, according to the fisherman. But who showed the lint to the
fisherman? I did. Who marked it with large letters as mine? I did. Who
wrapped it round the handle at all? I did. Rather a singular thing to
do; has anyone ever explained it?"

His words, which had been heard at first with painful coldness were
beginning to hold more and more of their attention.

"Then there is the well itself," proceeded the doctor, with the same air
of insane calm. "I suppose some of you by this time know at least the
secret of that. The secret of the well is simply that it is not a well.
It is purposely shaped at the top so as to look like one, but it is
really a sort of chimney opening from the roof of one of those caves
over there; a cave that runs inland just under the wood, and indeed IS
connected by tunnels and secret passages with other openings miles and
miles away. It is a sort of labyrinth used by smugglers and such people
for ages past. This doubtless explains many of those disappearances we
have heard of. But to return to the well that is not a well, in case
some of you still don't know about it. When the sea rises very high at
certain seasons it fills the low cave, and even rises a little way in
the funnel above, making it look more like a well than ever. The noise
Mr. Paynter heard was the natural eddy of a breaker from outside, and
the whole experience depended on something so elementary as the tide."

The American was startled into ordinary speech.

"The tide!" he said. "And I never even thought of it! I guess that comes
of living by the Mediterranean."

"The next step will be obvious enough," continued the speaker, "to a
logical mind like that of Mr. Ashe, for instance. If it be asked why,
even so, the tide did not wash away the Squire's remains that had lain
there since his disappearance, there is only one possible answer. The
remains had NOT lain there since his disappearance. The remains had been
deliberately put there in the cavern under the wood, and put there AFTER
Mr. Paynter had made his first investigation. They were put there,