immer of light from the street made dimly visible the mattress on the
floor and two indistinct dark shapes stretched on it. I stepped quickly
across the room, breathing as little as possible of the unspeakably foul
air, and struck a wax match. It burned dimly and smokily, but showed me
the two murderers, lying in easy postures, their faces livid and ghastly
in hue but peaceful enough in expression. When I lowered the match, its
flame dwindled and turned blue, and at eighteen inches from the floor it
went out as if dipped in water. At that height the heavy gas must have
been nearly pure. The room was a veritable Grotto del Cane.

"I stooped quickly, holding my breath, and felt the wrists of the two
men. They were chilly to the touch and no vestige of pulse was
perceptible. I shook them both vigorously, but failed to elicit any
responsive movement. They were quite limp and inert and I had no doubt
that they were dead. My work was done. The policemen were now safe,
whatever follies they might commit; and it only remained for me to
remove the traces of the fairy godmother who had labored through the
night to save them from their own exuberant courage.

"Passing back through the opening, I drew away the now unnecessary pipe,
closed the two panels, and carried the little stove down to my bedroom.
I looked at the unruffled bed--mute but eloquent witness to the night's
activity--and deciding as a measure of prudence to give it the
appearance of having been slept in, took off my boots and crept in
between the sheets. But I was not in the least degree drowsy. Quite the
contrary. I was all agog to see the end of the comedy in which I had,
all unknown, taken the leading part; so that after tossing about for a
few minutes I sprang out of bed, resumed my boots and poured out a basin
full of water to refresh myself by a wash.

"And now once more observe the strangely indirect lines of causation.
The towels on the horse were damp and none too clean. I flung them into
the dirty-linen basket and dragged open the drawer in which the clean
ones were kept. It was the bottom drawer of a cheap pine chest that I
had bought in Whitechapel High Street. That chest of drawers was of
unusual size; it was four feet wide by nearly five feet high, and the
two bottom drawers were each fully eighteen inches deep, and were far
larger than was necessary for my modest stock of household linen.

"I pulled out the bottom drawer, then, and as its great cavi