"If they had destroyed that one it would have had some meaning to me,"
commented Pendleton. "But, as it is, I hardly think I follow you."

"The meaning that I find," replied Ashton-Kirk, "lies in the fact that
the pictures violently used were those of General Wayne only. Mark
that fact. That they were deliberately selected for destruction is
beyond question."

"How do you make that out?"

"It is simple. If this were a mere random stripping of the room of its
pictures, all would have suffered. Look," indicating a spot in the
wall, "here is a place where the plaster is broken. A hook had been
driven here to hold one of the portraits; and the breaking of the
plaster shows that some determination was required to tear the picture
down. Yet--next this--is an engraving of an old mansion which remains
untouched. The next four again were portraits of the General, and all
have been demolished."

Pendleton nodded.

"That's true," said he. "Whoever did this was after the Revolutionary
hero alone. But why?"

Ashton-Kirk smiled.

"We'll look into matters a little further," said he. "Perhaps there
are facts to be gathered that will shed some light upon the things
that we have already seen."