himself, and he was still muttering when he got into his room at the
office. And what he muttered was the same thing, repeated over and over
again:

"Six hours--six hours--six hours! Those six hours!"

Next morning the _Watchman_ came out with four leaded columns of
up-to-date news about the Marbury Case, and right across the top of the
four ran a heavy double line of great capitals, black and staring:--

WHO SAW JOHN MARBURY BETWEEN 3.15 P.M. AND 9.15 P.M. ON THE DAY
PRECEDING HIS MURDER?




CHAPTER TEN

THE LEATHER BOX


Whether Spargo was sanguine enough to expect that his staring headline
would bring him information of the sort he wanted was a secret which he
kept to himself. That a good many thousands of human beings must have
set eyes on John Marbury between the hours which Spargo set forth in
that headline was certain; the problem was--What particular owner or
owners of a pair or of many pairs of those eyes would remember him? Why
should they remember him? Walters and his wife had reason to remember
him; Criedir had reason to remember him; so had Myerst; so had William
Webster. But between a quarter past three, when he left the London and