“He rolled over toward the wall,—or fell against the wall,—and he had just sufficient strength left to get a pencil and a scrap of paper out of his pocket and write that message.” “Yes,—good heavens, Wise, I know all that!” “Sure you do. Well, now hark. He didn’t place that paper on the floor to write on it; he held it up against the wall.” “Well?” “Well, and part of the writing,—the first part, fell on the wall and not on the paper——” “What!” shouted Bates. “What was it? Does it change the meaning?” “_Does_ it! Well, rather! The part on the wall is one letter,—the initial letter of what he wrote——” “What was it? Tell me, Wise, don’t keep me in suspense!” “I don’t mean to. It was a T,—a capital T.” “Well? I don’t see——” “Why, it makes the message read ‘Two men did this,’ instead of ‘women did this.’ The words are run together, for he couldn’t lift the pencil——” “He always did that,—his writing always shows connected words!” “So, there’s the message as clear as print! The T on the onyx just fits to the first mark on the paper,—any one can see that,—and we have the dying statement, ‘Two men did this.’ With what is undoubtedly the further instruction, ‘get both’.” “What a revelation! Who can they be?” “It ought to be easy to find out. They are, of course, some of the bakery men. And Sir Herbert’s idea was that doubtless one would be apprehended, but for us to get both of them.” “And the women are out of it!” “Ab—s—lute—ly! But we must go warily. You see, the guilty men have been glad to hide behind the idea of ‘women’ which came to their rescue by the merest chance. It’s all so easily understood now. Sir Herbert, with dying effort and failing eyesight, wrote hurriedly, and efficient, though he was, his haste made him begin his writing off the paper instead of on it. His habit of connecting words, or his inability from weakness to lift his pencil, made the words ‘Two men,’ the capital missing, seem to be ‘women.’ Think how delighted the two men must have been at this! I doubt if they realized what did happen,—more likely they thought Sir Herbert denounced women for some reason of his own. Now, to catch them we must walk delicately, like Scriptural Agag, and spring on them unawares.” “Which way shall we look?” “Take the Bakery men in turn. Crippen first, I should say.” “Vail?” “Vail’s out of it. You see, he was in the elevator with Moore when it happened.” “Unless Vail and Moore were the two men, and trumped up the whole story.” “I don’t think that. Moore’s no criminal; he had no motive, and the whole weight of evidence and testimony goes to prove Moore truly interested in the solution of the mystery. He’s worked harder on it than you know. I’ve watched him. No, Bob Moore is not the man! And that lets Vail out.” “Well, then—but I won’t suggest. You can dictate.” “First let’s get Zizi and tell her.” The girl was summoned and when Wise told her what he had found her big, black eyes danced with delight.