few minutes later I discovered that he had left. I will enquire in the
kitchen if anything is known as to his movements."

He hurried off. Quest turned to the Professor.

"Has he been with you long, this man Craig, Professor?" he asked.

The Professor's smile was illuminating, his manner simple but convincing.

"Craig," he asserted, "is the best servant, the most honest mortal who
ever breathed. He would go any distance out of his way to avoid harming a
fly. I cannot even trust him to procure for me the simplest specimens of
insect or animal life. Apart from this, he is a man of some property which
he has no idea what to do with. He is, I think I may say, too devoted to
me to dream of ever leaving my service."

"You think it would be out of the question, then," Quest asked, "to
associate him with the crime?"

The Professor's confidence was sublime.

"I could more readily associate you, myself, or young Mr. Rheinholdt here
with the affair," he declared.

His words carried weight. The little breath of suspicion against the
Professor's servant faded away. In a moment or two the butler returned.

"It appears, madam," he announced, "that Mr. Craig left when there was
only one person in the kitchen. He said good-night and closed the door
behind him. It is impossible to say, therefore, by which exit he left the