Strona 296 z 657

He throws it out, and would have done the same with the other

garments had not he heard the rush of steps below, and only just

had time to close the window when the police appeared."

"It certainly sounds feasible."

"Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a

better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the

station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before

been anything against him. He had for years been known as a

professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very

quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and

the questions which have to be solved-what Neville St. Clair was

doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is

he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance-are

all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot

recall any case within my experience which looked at the first

glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties."