an his judgment approved or his conscience dictated.
But his kindly nature prompted him to help the anxious young man seated
in front of him, who had so much more than he to gain by success.

"I think there is more in this case than you and Merrington have yet
brought to light," he said.

"I suppose there is, if it is proved that Hazel Rath did not steal the
necklace. But have you found out anything else besides the loss of the
necklace?"

Colwyn did not directly reply. He was glancing over the depositions
again.

"There are one or two curious points here," he remarked, as he turned
over the leaves. "In the first place, the ammunition expert who was
called at the inquest to give evidence about the bullet extracted from
the body testified that in weight and in length it corresponded with the
seven millimetre bullet made for a pinfire revolver. The bullet had
undoubtedly been fired from the revolver which you found in Mrs. Rath's
rooms. Bullets for English revolvers are not graded in millimetres, but
there appears to be sufficient demand for this size to cause British
firms to manufacture them. The nearest size in central-fire cartridge to
seven millimetres is called the 300, which is .3 of an inch. Seven
millimetres is .276 of an inch. The point to which I want to draw your
attention is the extreme slightness and smallness of the revolver with
which Mrs. Heredith was killed. As Captain Nepcote told Merrington
yesterday, it is little more than a toy."

"That struck me as soon as I saw it," said Caldew. "But I do not see
what bearing the fact has on the case, one way or another."

"Nevertheless, it is a point not without importance, when it is
considered in conjunction with the other circumstances of the case. The
evidence of the Government pathologist is also of interest. After
stating the cause of death to be heart failure due to haemorrhage
consequent upon the passage of the bullet through the lung, he mentions
that there was a large scorched hole through the rest-gown and
undergarment which Mrs. Heredith was wearing at the time she was
murdered."

"I noticed that when I was examining the body."

"Was the dress-stuff smouldering when you saw the body?"

"No; but there was a smell of a burning fabric in the room."

"The Government pathologist says that the burnt hole was nearly two
inches across, but he also states that the punctured wound made by the
bullet was about the size of a threepenny piece. The dispa