any known brand, either of cigar or of tobacco. It is just in such details that

the skilled detective differs from the Gregson and Lestrade type.”

 

“And the florid face?” I asked.

 

“Ah, that was a more daring shot, though I have no doubt that I was right. You

must not ask me that at the present state of the affair.”

 

I passed my hand over my brow. “My head is in a whirl,” I remarked; “the more

one thinks of it the more mysterious it grows. How came these two men—if there

were two men—into an empty house? What has become of the cabman who drove them?

How could one man compel another to take poison? Where did the blood come from?

What was the object of the murderer, since robbery had no part in it? How came

the woman’s ring there? Above all, why should the second man write up the German

word RACHE before decamping? I confess that I cannot see any possible way of

reconciling all these facts.”

 

My companion smiled approvingly.

 

“You sum up the difficulties of the situation succinctly and well,” he said.

“There is much that is still obscure, though I have quite made up my mind on the

main facts. As to poor Lestrade’s discovery it was simply a blind intended to

put the police upon a wrong track, by suggesting Socialism and secret societies.

It was not done by a German.