"Eat it!" the inspector laughed. "He wolfs it. I remembered what you said and took a pound along with me to Strinton, just for fun." He looked across at Malcolm Sage a little shamefacedly. "I afterwards heard that there was only the jar and the label left; but I don't see what all this has to do with it. The fellow's got to swing for it and----" "Carfon, you've made a fool of yourself." The inspector started back in his chair as if someone had struck him. "I gave you a description of the man who had killed Professor McMurray; yet you proceed to build up a fantastical case against this poor devil." "But----" began the inspector. He was interrupted by the door being burst violently open and Sir John Dene shot into the room. For a moment he stood staring at the two men, Gladys Norman and William Johnson framed in the doorway behind him. "Sir Jasper's killed himself," he cried. "Moses' aunt!" cried the inspector, starting to his feet. Malcolm Sage sat immovable at his table, his eyes upon his outstretched hands. Slowly looking up he motioned to Miss Norman to close the door, then nodded towards a chair into which Sir John Dene sank. The inspector resumed his own seat. It was obvious that the news had considerably shaken him. "You knew?" Sir John Dene interrogated, his voice a little unsteady. "I expected it," said Malcolm Sage quietly. "But how, Mr. Sage?" enquired Inspector Carfon in a whisper, his throat dry with excitement. "Because I wrote to him yesterday saying that I could not allow the condemned man to be sacrificed. It was Sir Jasper Chambers who killed Professor McMurray." For a moment Inspector Carfon's eyes looked as if they would start out of his head. He turned and looked at Sir John Dene, who with unsteady hand was taking a cheroot from his case. Malcolm Sage drew his pipe from his pocket and proceeded to fill it. "On the Tuesday night," he began, "it is obvious that Professor McMurray admitted someone to the laboratory. That man was Sir Jasper Chambers. "When the two had dined together a week before," proceeded Malcolm Sage, "an appointment was obviously made for a week later. The professor's last words were significant: 'Anyway, Chambers, you will be the first to know.' If the experiments had proved fatal, how could Sir Jasper be the first to know unless an appointment had been made for him to call at the laboratory and discover for himself the result?" The inspector coughed noisily. "When Sir Jasper learned of the unqualified success of the experiments, and saw by the professor's changed appearance proof of his triumph, he remembered the article in _The Present Century_. He realised that in the lengthening of human life a terrible catastrophe threatened the world. Humanitarianism triumphed over his affection for his friend, and he killed him." Sir John Dene nodded his head in agreement. The inspector was leaning forward, his arms on the table, staring at Malcolm Sage with glassy eyes.