uspected the identity of the disguised man, I was confronted
with two jobs. One was to prove the identity beyond question; the other
was to show, by irrefutable evidence, that the disguised man committed
the murder. As I said, my theory took shape in my mind that afternoon in
my room in the Brevord Hotel. Everything I've done since then, has been
for the purpose of getting the necessary facts.

"I have those facts now."

He looked at Greenleaf and Bristow, making it plain that he expected
their hostility to anything he had to say.

"My suspicion grew out of my belief that I must find the man who had
blackmailed Mrs. Withers in Atlantic City and Washington, and, for the
third time, here in Furmville. The blackmailer was the only one who had
had access to the victim on the three different occasions of which we
know; the work was all by the same hand. Find the blackmailer, and I had
the murderer.

"I know now who he is.

"Five years ago there was a striking sort of individuality that had
impressed itself on the minds of a good many men in Wall Street, New York
City. Although penniless at the outset of his career, and in fact never
really rich, he had made a good deal of money now and then; and had spent
it as fast as he got it.

"He was brilliant, thoroughly unscrupulous, absolutely without honour. He
did the 'Great White Way' stunt--the restaurants, the roof gardens, a
pretty actress at times, jewels and champagne. Because of his uncertain
habits, he never had an office of his own. He always operated through
others. His earning power was a gift of judging the market and knowing
when to 'bear' and when to 'bull.'

"This gift was no fabulous thing. It was real in a majority of the times
he tried to use it, and because of it he was able to live high and put up
a good front. This was the situation up to five years ago. Observe the
man's character and the pleasure he took in running crooked.

"With a little study and the usual amount of industry and concentration,
he could have been a power in the financial world. That, however, did
not appeal to him. He liked the excitement of crime, the perverted
pleasure of playing the crook.

"Early in nineteen-thirteen, a little more than five years ago, the crash
came. He was arrested, charged with the embezzlement of thirty-three
hundred dollars from the firm which employed him. The name of the firm
was Blanchard and Sebastian. He had stolen more than the amount
mentioned, bu