sing in a way which in
itself was a dismissal.

I smiled an amused denial, then with the simple directness I thought
most likely to win me his confidence, entered straight upon my
business in these plain words:

"Pardon me, Mr. Jeffrey, I have something to say which is not exactly
fitted for the ears of servants." Then, as he pushed his chair
suddenly back, I added reassuringly: "It is not a police matter, sir,
but an entirely personal one. It may strike you as important, and it
may not. Mr. Jeffrey, I was the man who made the unhappy discovery in
the Moore mansion, which has plunged this house into mourning."

This announcement startled him and produced a visible change in his
manner. His eyes flew first to one door and then to another, as if
it were he who feared intrusion now.

"I beg your pardon for speaking on so painful a topic," I went on,
as soon as I saw he was ready to listen to me. "My excuse is that
I came upon a little thing that same night which I have not thought
of sufficient importance to mention to any one else, but which it
may interest you to hear about."

Here I took from a book I held, a piece of blotting-paper. It was
white on one side and blue on the other. The white side I had
thickly chalked, though this was not apparent. Laying down this
piece of blotting-paper, chalked side up, on the end of a large table
near which we were standing, I took out an envelope from my pocket,
and, shaking it gently to and fro, remarked:

"In an upper room of the Moore house--you remember the southwest
chamber, sir?"

Ali! didn't he! There was no misdoubting the quick emotion--the
shrinking and the alarm with which he heard this room mentioned.

"It was in that room that I found these."

Tipping up the envelope, I scattered over the face of the blotter
a few of the glistening particles I had collected from the place
mentioned.

He bent over them, astonished. Then, as was natural, brushed them
together in a heap with the tips of his fingers, and leaned to look
again, just as I breathed a heavy sigh which scattered them far and
wide.

Instinctively, he withdrew his hand; whereupon I embraced the
opportunity of turning the blotter over, uttering meanwhile the
most profuse apologies. Then, as if anxious not to repeat my
misadventure, I let the blotter lie where it was, and pouring out
the few remaining particles into my palm, I held them toward the
light in such a way that he was compelled t