n, eager
features became more attenuated with the asceticism of complete mental
concentration. Finally he lit his pipe, and sitting in the inglenook
of the old village inn he talked slowly and at random about his case,
rather as one who thinks aloud than as one who makes a considered
statement.

"A lie, Watson--a great, big, thumping, obtrusive, uncompromising
lie--that's what meets us on the threshold! There is our starting
point. The whole story told by Barker is a lie. But Barker's story is
corroborated by Mrs. Douglas. Therefore she is lying also. They are both
lying, and in a conspiracy. So now we have the clear problem. Why are
they lying, and what is the truth which they are trying so hard to
conceal? Let us try, Watson, you and I, if we can get behind the lie and
reconstruct the truth.

"How do I know that they are lying? Because it is a clumsy fabrication
which simply could not be true. Consider! According to the story given
to us, the assassin had less than a minute after the murder had been
committed to take that ring, which was under another ring, from the dead
man's finger, to replace the other ring--a thing which he would surely
never have done--and to put that singular card beside his victim. I say
that this was obviously impossible.

"You may argue--but I have too much respect for your judgment, Watson,
to think that you will do so--that the ring may have been taken before
the man was killed. The fact that the candle had been lit only a short
time shows that there had been no lengthy interview. Was Douglas, from
what we hear of his fearless character, a man who would be likely to
give up his wedding ring at such short notice, or could we conceive of
his giving it up at all? No, no, Watson, the assassin was alone with
the dead man for some time with the lamp lit. Of that I have no doubt at
all.

"But the gunshot was apparently the cause of death. Therefore the shot
must have been fired some time earlier than we are told. But there
could be no mistake about such a matter as that. We are in the presence,
therefore, of a deliberate conspiracy upon the part of the two people
who heard the gunshot--of the man Barker and of the woman Douglas.
When on the top of this I am able to show that the blood mark on the
windowsill was deliberately placed there by Barker, in order to give
a false clue to the police, you will admit that the case grows dark
against him.

"Now we have to ask ourselves at what hour the