The telephone interrupted and Evan Pell put the receiver to his ear. “... Yes, this is the _Free Press_.... Please repeat that.... In Boston last night?... Who saw him? Who is speaking?” Then his face assumed that blank, exasperated look which nothing can bring in such perfection as to have the receiver at the other end of the line hung up in one’s ear. He turned to Carmel. “The person”--he waggled his thumb toward the instrument--“who was on the wire says Sheriff Churchill was seen in Boston last night?” “Alive?” “Alive.” “Who was it? Who saw him?” “When I asked that--he hung up the receiver in my ear.” “Do you suppose it is true?” “Um!... Let us scrutinize the matter in the light of logic--which it is your custom to ridicule. First, we have an anonymous communication. Anonymity is always open to suspicion. Second, it is the newspaper which is informed--not the authorities. Third, it is the newspaper which has been showing a curiosity as to the sheriff’s whereabouts--er--contrary to the wishes of certain people....” “Yes....” “From these premises I would reason: first, that the anonymous informer wishes the fact to be made public; second, that he wishes this paper to believe it; third, that, if the paper does believe it, it will cease asking where the sheriff is and why; and fourth, that if this report is credited, there will be no search by anybody for a _corpus delicti_.” “A _corpus delicti_! And what might that be?” Evan Pell sighed with that impatient tolerance which one exhibits toward children asking questions about the obvious. “It has been suggested,” he said, “that Sheriff Churchill has been murdered. The first requisite in the establishment of the commission of a murder is the production of the _corpus delicti_--the body of the victim. If the body cannot be produced, or its disposal established, there can be no conviction for the crime. In short, a murder requires the fact of a dead man, and until the law can be shown a veritable body it is compelled, I imagine, to presume the victim still alive. Here, you will perceive, the effort is to raise a presumption that Sheriff Churchill is not a _corpus delicti_.” “Then you don’t believe it?” “Do you?” “I--I don’t know. Poor Mrs. Churchill! For her sake I hope it is true.” “H’m!... If I were you, Miss Lee, I would not inform Mrs. Churchill of this--without substantiation.” “You are right. Nor shall I print it in the paper. You believe some one is deliberately imposing upon us?” “My mind,” said Evan Pell, “has been trained for years to seek the truth. I am an observer of facts, trained to separate the true from the false. That is the business of science and research. I think I have made plain my reasons for doubting the truth of this message.” “So much so,” said Carmel, “that I agree with you.”