us that a dastardly murder had been committed in the suburbs of
Brisbane, and that the police were unable to obtain any clue as to the
identity of the person accountable for it. Two or three men were
arrested on suspicion, but were immediately discharged on being in a
position to give a satisfactory account of their actions on the night of
the murder. It struck me that I should like to take up the case, and
with the confidence of youth, I applied to the Commissioner for
permission to be allowed to try my hand at unravelling the mystery.
What they thought of my impudence I cannot say, but the fact remains
that my request, after being backed up by my Inspector, was granted. The
case was a particularly complicated one, and at one time I was beginning
to think that I should prove no more successful than the others had
been. Instead of deterring me, however, this only spurred me on to
greater efforts. The mere fact that I had asked to be allowed to take
part in the affair, had aroused the jealousy of the detectives of the
department, and I was aware that they would receive the news of my
failure with unqualified satisfaction. I therefore prosecuted my
inquiries in every possible direction, sparing myself neither labour nor
pains. It would appear that the victim, an old man, was without kith or
kin. He was very poor, and lived by himself in a small villa on the
outskirts of the city. No one had been seen near the house on the night
in question, nor had any noise been heard by the neighbours. Yet in the
morning he was discovered lying on the floor of the front-room, stabbed
to the heart from behind. Now every detective knows--indeed it is part
of his creed--that, in an affair such as I am describing, nothing is too
minute or too trivial to have a bearing upon the case. The old gentleman
had been at supper when the crime was committed, and from the fact that
the table was only laid for one, I argued that he had not expected a
visitor. The murderer could not have been hungry, for the food had not
been touched. That the motive was not robbery was also plain from the