s they
reached the gate.

"Entirely."

"I'm afraid poor Pond thought you were making game of us," he added
apologetically. "Do you mind explaining how you arrived at your
conclusions?"

"Behind that clump of rhododendrons," began Malcolm Sage, "there is
written a whole history. The marks of boots, or shoes, with very
high heels suggests a woman, the size and daintiness of the footwear
tell the rest. As Burns appeared, she stepped towards him. Her very
short steps indicate both fashionable clothes and smallness of
stature."

"And the man who was careful about his clothes?"

"He stood behind a holly-bush with an umbrella----"

"But how did you know?"

"He had been leaning upon it, and there was the mark where it had
sunk into the soft turf up to the point where the silk joins the
stick. A man who carries an umbrella on a kidnapping adventure must
be habitually in fear of rain--none but a well-dressed man would
fear rain.

"Then, as he had a cigar in his hand with the end bitten off, it
shows the habitual smoker. He was only waiting for the end of the
drama before lighting up. His height I get from his stride, and his
size by the fact that, like Humpty-Dumpty, he had a great fall. I'll
tell you the rest later. I'm afraid it's an ugly business."

"But the girl riding beside the driver?" burst out Mr. Doulton,
bewildered by the facts that Malcolm Sage had deduced from so little.

"At the edge of a side-road there is invariably a deposit of dust,
and the marks where they all got out and in are clearly visible. The
hurry of departure is shown by the fact that the car started before
one of the men had taken his place, and his footsteps running beside
it before jumping on to the running-board are quite clear. I'll ring
you up later. I cannot stay now." And with that he hurried away.

"Back along your own tracks, Tims," said he on reaching the car. He
then walked on to the main road.

With head over right shoulder, Tims carefully backed the car,
Malcolm Sage signalling that he was to turn to the right.

Instructing Tims to drive slowly, Malcolm Sage took his seat beside
him, keeping his eyes fixed upon the off-side of the road. He
stopped the car at each cross-road, and walked down it some twenty
or thirty yards, his eyes bent downwards as if in search of
something. At the end of half an hour he instructed Tims to drive
back to London at his best speed.

II

That afternoon in his office Malcolm Sage