"The man clearly meant to take it away and hide it somewhere--that'll be just it! And then he found it ower heavy and decided to leave it after all." "And who was this man?" "That's precisely where proper principles, Mr. Cromarty, lead to a number of vera interesting and instructive discoveries, and I think ye'll see, sir, that the noose is on the road to his neck already. I've not got the actual man, mind! In fac' I've no idea who he is, but I can tell you a good few things about him--enough, in fac', to make escape practically impossible. In the first place, he was one well acquaint with the ways of the house. Is that not a fair deduction, sir?" "Sure!" said Ned. "I've put my bottom dollar on that already." "He came from inside this house and not outside it. How long he'd been in the house, that I cannot say, but my own deductions are he'd been in the house waiting for his chance for a good while before the master heard him at yon door. Is that not a fair deduction too, sir?" "It's possible," said Ned, though not with great conviction. "And now here's a point that accounts for Sir Reginald giving no alarm--Sir Reginald knew the man and couldna believe he meant mischief!" Ned looked at him quickly and curiously. "Well?" said he. "Is that not a fair deduction, Mr. Cromarty?" "Seems to fill the bill." "And now, here's a few personal details. Yon man was a fair active strong man to have dealt with the master the way he did. But he was not strong enough to carry off the corp like a sack of potatoes; he was no a great muckle big giant, that's to say. And finally, calculating from the distance the body was from the door and the number of steps he would be likely to take to the door, and sae arriving at his stride and deducing his height accordingly, he'd be as near as may be five feet nine inches tall. Now, sir, me and you ought to get him with a' that known!" Ned Cromarty looked at him with a curious gleam in his eye. "What's your own height, Bisset?" he enquired. "Five feet nine inches," said the reasoner promptly, and then suddenly his mouth fell open but his voice ceased. "And now," pursued Ned with a grimly humorous look, "can you not think of a man just that height, pretty hefty but not a giant, who was certainly in the house last night, who knew all the ways of it, and who would never have been suspected by Sir Reginald of meaning mischief?" "God!" exclaimed the unfortunate reasoner. "I've proved it was mysel'!" "Well, and what shall I do--string you up now or hand you over to the police?" "But, Mr. Cromarty--you don't believe that's right surely?" Tragic though the occasion was, Ned could not refrain from one brief laugh. And then his face set hard again and he said: "No, Bisset, I do not believe it was you. In fact, I wouldn't believe it was you if you confessed to it. But I'd advise you not to go spreading your deductions abroad! Deduction's a game that wants a bit more practice than you or I have had."