tomorrow to swear to having heard a shot, but there are no neighbours on my

floor, and I guessed I could risk it. So I left the body in bed dressed up in my

pyjamas, with a revolver lying on the bed-clothes and a considerable mess

around. Then I got into a suit of clothes I had kept waiting for emergencies. I

didn’t dare to shave for fear of leaving tracks, and besides, it wasn’t any kind

of use my trying to get into the streets. I had had you in my mind all day, and

there seemed nothing to do but to make an appeal to you. I watched from my

window till I saw you come home, and then slipped down the stair to meet you....

There, sir, I guess you know about as much as me of this business.”

 

He sat blinking like an owl, fluttering with nerves and yet desperately

determined. By this time I was pretty well convinced that he was going straight

with me. It was the wildest sort of narrative, but I had heard in my time many

steep tales which had turned out to be true, and I had made a practice of

judging the man rather than the story. If he had wanted to get a location in my

flat, and then cut my throat, he would have pitched a milder yarn.

 

“Hand me your key,” I said, “and I’ll take a look at the corpse. Excuse my

caution, but I’m bound to verify a bit if I can.”

 

He shook his head mournfully. “I reckoned you’d ask for that, but I haven’t got

it. It’s on my chain on the dressing-table. I had to leave it behind, for I

couldn’t leave any clues to breed suspicions. The gentry who are after me are

pretty bright-eyed citizens. You’ll have to take me on trust for the night, and

tomorrow you’ll get proof of the corpse business right enough.”