“The electric light was on, of course, when you discovered the body?” he asked

over his shoulder.

 

I assented, and joined him where he was studying the marks on the window-sill.

 

“The rubber studs are the same pattern as those in Captain Paton’s shoes,” he

said quietly.

 

Then he came back once more to the middle of the room. His eye traveled round,

searching everything in the room with a quick, trained glance.

 

“Are you a man of good observation, Dr. Sheppard?” he asked at last.

 

“I think so,” I said, surprised.

 

“There was a fire in the grate, I see. When you broke the door down and found

Mr. Ackroyd dead, how was the fire? Was it low?”

 

I gave a vexed laugh.

 

“I—I really can’t say. I didn’t notice. Perhaps Mr. Raymond or Major Blunt——”

 

The little man opposite me shook his head with a faint smile.