isfaction.

"Here's the point," he said, when Dick had finished. "She was there
before Donaldson, or at the same time," as Dick made an impatient
movement. "But he had only a dozen yards to go. She was in her room,
upstairs. To get down in that time she had to leave her room, descend
a staircase, cross a hall and run the length of the living-room,
forty-five feet. If the case had ever gone to trial she'd have had to do
some explaining."

"She or Donaldson," Dick said obstinately.

Bassett read on:

Jean Melis called and sworn.

Q. "Your name?"

A. "Jean Melis."

Q. "Have you an American residence, Mr. Melis?"

A. "Only where I am employed. I am now living at the Clark ranch."

Q. "What is your business?"

A. "I am Mr. Clark's valet."

Q. "It was you who found Mr. Clark's revolver?"

A. "Yes."

Q. "Tell about how and where you found it."

A. "I made a search early in the evening. I will not hide from you that
I meant to conceal it if I discovered it. A man who is drunk is not
guilty of what he does. I did not find it. I went back that night, when
the people had gone, and found it beneath the carved woodbox, by the
fireplace. I did not know that the sheriff had placed a man outside the
window."

"Get that, too," Bassett said, putting down the paper. "The Frenchman
was fond of you, and he was doing his blundering best. But the sheriff
expected you back and had had the place watched, so they caught him. But
that's not the point. A billiard room is a hard place to hide things in.
I take it yours was like the average."

Dick nodded.

"All right. This poor boob of a valet made a search and didn't find it.
Later he found it. Why did he search? Wasn't it the likely thing that
you'd carried it away with you? Do you suppose for a moment that with
Donaldson and the woman in the room you hid it there, and then went back
and stood behind the roulette table, leaning on it with both hands, and
staring? Not at all. Listen to this:

Q. "You recognize this revolver as the one you found?"

A. "Yes."

Q. "You are familiar with it?"

A. "Yes. It is Mr. Clark's."

Q. "You made the second search because you had not examined the woodbox
earlier?"

A. "No. I had examined the woodbox. I had a theory that--"

Q. "The Jury cannot listen to any theories. This is an inquiry into
facts."

"I'm going to find Melis," the reporter said thoughtfully, as he folded
up the papers. "The fact is, I mailed an advertisement