door was open, as it was, he'd be shot out and into space
before he knew what was happening."

This theory produced a moment's silence--broken at last by
Sackville Bonham.

"Varner says he saw--saw!--a man's hand, a gentleman's hand,"
insisted Sackville. "He saw a white shirt cuff, a bit of the
sleeve of a coat. You're not going to get over that, you
know. He's certain of it!"

"Varner may be as certain of it as he likes," answered
Archdale, almost indifferently, "and still he may be mistaken.
The probability is that Varner was confused by what he saw.
He may have had a white shirt cuff and the sleeve of a black
coat impressed upon him, as in a flash--and they were probably
those of the man who was killed. If, as I suggest, the man
slipped, and was shot out of that open doorway, he would
execute some violent and curious movements in the effort to
save himself in which his arms would play an important part.
For one thing, he would certainly throw out an arm--to clutch
at anything. That's what Varner most probably saw. There's
no evidence whatever that the man was flung down."

Bryce turned away from the group of talkers to think over
Archdale's suggestion. If that suggestion had a basis of
fact, it destroyed his own theory that Ransford was
responsible for the stranger's death. In that case, what was
the reason of Ransford's unmistakable agitation on leaving the
west porch, and of his attack--equally unmistakable--of nerves