at last; “though, of course, it may be only a coincidence. Taken by itself, it isn’t worth a cent; in connection with other evidence, it would be worth a great deal.”
“And there isn’t any other?”
“Just one little bit. You say Tremaine comes from Martinique. Well, among Thompson’s clothes I found a peculiar nut, called a snake nut, which grows only in the West Indies. When you add to this that Thompson’s clothing was all such as is worn in the tropics, the presumption is pretty strong that he lived for a while somewhere in Tremaine’s neighbourhood.”
I nodded; then my face fell.
“After all,” I pointed out, “all that amounts to nothing. Both Tremaine and his wife can prove an alibi. They weren’t in the building when the crime was committed. You yourself saw them coming back.”
“Yes—but it’s a significant fact that no one saw them go out.”
“Oh, well,” I said, with a sudden revulsion of feeling, “that doesn’t prove anything, either. We mustn’t let our suspicions carry us away, Godfrey. If you knew the Tremaines, you’d see how ridiculous it is to suspect them—on no better evidence than this, anyway.”
“I don’t suspect them,” corrected Godfrey, smiling. “I’m simply seeking the truth. If the Tremaines are innocent, as they very probably are, it will do them no harm for us to investigate them a little.”
“No,” I agreed; “of course not.”
“And that’s just what I want you to do. You’re
