“Far more than you think,” was the serious reply. “In fact, Ranville, he told the truth. There are millions in this country who are trying to have laws passed which will prevent the teaching of science. We have three great religious denominations that maintain great political lobbies in Washington. They may be narrow, uncultured and all that, but they are also sincere—the sincerity of the uneducated, and those who from the standpoint of the psychologist fear the newer knowledge. They want Sunday blue laws, censorship and, above all, to prevent by law all things in which they do not believe. He was right when he said that many of those people think Warren's death was an act of God.” Ranville shook his head as if saying that such things were beyond his comprehension. He laughed a bit, and had a little fun with us by saying that it was time we became civilized; then lapsed into silence. For a time we sat quietly thinking, the smoke from our cigars curling above our heads. It was Ranville who spoke first, turning to Bartley: “What do you think was back of this murder?” “It is going to be pretty hard to discover. I suppose you Scotland Yard men always do the same thing I do, try first to find the motive for a crime.” The Inspector nodded, replying: “We do. But of course we have an extensive system which covers the whole of England. Even at that it would be rather difficult to find any apparent motive for this murder. There is none on the surface.” “None that we usually find. Warren had no relative except his brother in the south. He is a very wealthy man, and the property will go to him. No family troubles. It seems from all we have heard he was not killed for money. There was nothing of any value taken. On the other hand, he had no enemies so far as I ever heard; in fact, the more you look at it the greater becomes the mystery. Just why a man like Warren should have been killed is the question we must answer first. Until that is answered there can be no chance of answering the second—who killed him.” The Englishman was thoughtful for a while, and then sinking back in his chair said slowly: “That is true. The only thing we do not know about is what might have taken place in China.” “I know about that,” commented Bartley, and as we both looked at him in surprise, he added: “I ran into Niles Patton at the University Club yesterday. I have known Patton for a long time. He was with Warren in China. He says that they had no trouble at all on their expedition. The only reason they were delayed in returning was not because they were molested by outlaws, but on account of the great discoveries of fossils Warren made. He says that so far as he knows Warren did not have an enemy in the whole of China. You will meet him when he comes up here to finish Warren's notes, and he will tell you the same thing.” “But, John,” I ventured. “How about that Chinaman who visited us and the story he told?”