, and will get along with the boys
all right. Nothing assertive about him; not enough go, perhaps. Would you
like to see him?"

"In a moment. I want to clear my mind in reference to these bottles. Only
some one addicted to drink would drag those six bottles out of that cold,
unlighted cellar."

"Yes, and a connoisseur at that. The two missing bottles held the
choicest brand in the whole stock. They were kept far back
too--hidden, as it were, behind the other bottles. Yet they were
hauled to the front and carried off, as you say, and by some one who
knows a good thing in spirits."

"What was in the four bottles found on the kitchen table?"

"Sherry, whiskey, and rum. Two bottles of rum and one each of sherry
and whiskey."

"The thief meant to carry them all off, but had not time."

"The _gentleman_ thief! No common man such as we are looking for, would
make choice of just those bottles. So there we are again! Contradictions
in every direction."

"Don't let us bother with the contradictions, but just follow the clew.
Those bottles, full or empty, must be found. You know the labels?"

"Yes, and the shape and colour of the bottles, both of which are
peculiar."

"Good! Now let us see your detective."

But Sweetwater was not called in yet. Just as Coroner Perry offered to
touch his bell, the door opened and Mr. Clifton was ushered in. Well and
favourably known to both men, he had no difficulty in stating his
business and preferring his request.

"I am here in the interests of Elwood Ranelagh," said he. "He is willing
to concede, and so am I, that under the circumstances his arrest was
justifiable, but not his prolonged detention. He has little excuse to
offer for the mistakes he has made, or the various offences of which he
has been guilty. His best friends must condemn his hypocrisy and
fast-and-loose treatment of Miss Cumberland; but he vows that he had no
hand in her violent death, and in this regard I feel not only bound but
forced to believe him. At all events, I am going to act on that
conviction, and have come here to entreat your aid in clearing up one or
two points which may affect your own opinion of his guilt.

"As his counsel I have been able to extract from him a fact or two which
he has hitherto withheld from the police. Reticent as he has shown
himself from the start,--and considering the character of the two women
involved in this tragedy, this cannot be looked upon as entirely to his
discredit