microscope when Mr. Higgins came to ask him to step across the hall
and to offer him two hundred dollars if he could produce Mustard
Bilton. Mr. Gubb went across the hall.

"Gubb," said Judge Mackinnon, when he had introduced the detective to
Mrs. Kinsey and Mrs. Doblin, "was Mustard Bilton in this office when
you signed your name to these wills?"

"No, sir, he was not present in person," said Mr. Gubb. "He was
elsewhere."

"Well, ladies," said the Judge, "it seems to me that until we can find
Mustard we cannot proceed. Mr. O'Hara's last will--whichever it
is--must be probated. If I took this will to the courthouse, whichever
side happened to be uppermost would be probated first and the other
side would naturally appear on the record as the latest will. It is a
responsibility I do not care to undertake. If you will not agree to
compromise and divide the estate--"

"Never!" said both ladies.

"We must find Mustard!" said the Judge.

Mr. Gubb went into the hall, but Lawyer Burch followed him.

"Gubb," he said, "just a word! Find Mustard for me. Now, don't
talk--find him. Bring Mustard to Judge Mackinnon's office and I'll put
two hundred dollars in your hand! That's all!"

Detective Gubb returned to his office and resumed his work on his lost
dog clues. One by one he submitted the clues to inspection under the
microscope. He tried the five processes of the Sherlock Holmes
inductive method on them. By some strange quirk, quite out of keeping
with the usual detective-story logic, he could make nothing of them.
Even the flea in the bit of dog hair did not point direct to the
location of the dog. They were blind clues. Mr. Gubb swept them into
an empty envelope, sealed the envelope, put on his hat and went out.

On the stair he met Judge Mackinnon.

"Well, if O'Hara meant to have a little joke--and he did--he's had
it," said the Judge with a chuckle. "You should have been in that room
just now. Cat fights? Those two women all but jumped on each other
with claws and teeth. I don't know why O'Hara wanted to worry them,
but he has paid them back well for whatever they ever did to him."

"And the dog has disappeared away, too," said Mr. Gubb. "I am
proceeding on my way at the present time to help discover where the
dog is."

"Hope you find the poor child's pet," said the Judge as he turned off
in the opposite direction.

Mr. Gubb proceeded to the late home of Haddon O'Hara. He followed the
brick walk to the back