with the victim, and thus aid the police in their quest?

He glowered savagely at the telltale stain, and vowed to rid his
conscience of an incubus. He would wait till the morrow and force
Forbes to come out into the open. Otherwise--

"You wish you had the murderer here now?"

Furneaux spoke softly, and with no trace of his wonted irony, but
Theydon was aware that once more the little detective had peered into
his very soul.

"Yes," he said, and there was a new gravity in his tone. "I do wish
that. I have never before been brought in contact with a crime of this
magnitude. It conveys a sort of personal responsibility. To think that
I was in my room, reading about aviation, while a woman's life was
being choked out of her within a few feet of where I was seated! O, it
is monstrous! Let me tell you two, here and now, that if I can do
anything to bring Mrs. Lester's slayer to justice, you can count on
me, no matter what the cost."

"I'm sure you mean what you say, Mr. Theydon," said Winter soothingly.
"Well, I suppose we can do no more tonight. I have little else to tell
you--"

"The skull-- the ivory skull!" put in Furneaux.

For an instant an expression of annoyance flitted across the chief
inspector's good-humored face. Theydon did not see it, because
Furneaux's odd-sounding words caused him to look with astonishment at