"Oh! ordinary," answered Davidge. "Jacob had made an appointment with him for half-past eleven or so. Got there a bit late, found his master sitting at his desk with a wad of bank notes on the blotting-pad, a paper of pearls on one side of him, a lot of diamond ornaments at the other--big temptation to a chap, who, as it turns out, was hard up, and had got into the hands of money-lenders. And, oh, just the ordinary thing in such cases, happened to have on him a revolver that he'd bought abroad, yielded to temptation, shot his man, took money and valuables, went home, and turned up at the office next day to lift his hands in horror at the dreadful news. You see what truth is, gentlemen, when you get at it--just a common, vulgar murder, for the sake of robbery. And he'll swing!" "'Just a common, vulgar murder, and he'll swing!'" softly repeated Cox-Raythwaite, as he and Selwood walked up the steps of the house in Portman Square half an hour later. "Well, that's solved, anyway. As for the other two----" "I suppose there's no doubt of their guilt with respect to their conspiring to upset the will?" said Selwood. "And that's a serious offence, isn't it?" "In this eminently commercial country, very," answered Cox-Raythwaite, sententiously. "Barthorpe and Burchill will inevitably retire to the shelter of a convict establishment for awhile. Um! Well, my boy, good night!" "Not coming in?" asked Selwood, as he put a key in the latch. The Professor gave his companion's shoulder a pressure of his big hand. "I think," he said, turning down the steps with a shy laugh, "I think Peggie will prefer to receive you--alone." THE END _THE MYSTERY STORIES OF_ _J . S . F L E T C H E R_ "_We always feel as though we were really spreading happiness when we can announce a genuinely satisfactory mystery story, such as J. S. Fletcher's new one._"--N. P. D. in the New York Globe. THE MIDDLE TEMPLE MURDER [1918] "Unquestionably, _the_ detective story of the season and, therefore, one which no lover of detective fiction should miss."--_The Broadside._ THE TALLEYRAND MAXIM [1920] "A crackerjack mystery tale; the story of Linford Pratt, who earnestly desired to get on in life, by hook or by crook--with no objection whatever to crookedness, so long at it could be performed in safety and secrecy."--_Knickerbocker Press._ THE PARADISE MYSTERY [1920] "As a weaver of detective tales Mr. Fletcher is entitled to a seat among the elect. His numerous followers will find his latest book fully as absorbing as anything from his pen that has previously appeared."--_New York Times._ DEAD MEN'S MONEY [1920] "The story is one that holds the reader with more than the mere interest of sensational events; Mr. Fletcher writes in a notable style."--_Newark Evening News._ THE ORANGE-YELLOW DIAMOND [1921] ". . . A rattling good yarn. . . . An uncommonly well written tale."--_New York Times._