“What’s that, Nick?” inquired Chick, starting up from his chair and dropping a morning paper reporting the last robbery. “Hit with an idea, did you say?” “Exactly.” “What is it, Mr. Carter?” asked Patsy, at once displaying a lively interest. “Have you discovered something lame in that picture?” Nick laughed. “That about hits the nail on the head, Patsy,” said he, with a glance in the lad’s direction. “I think I begin to see a ray of light in the darkness.” “What have you discovered?” asked Chick. And both he and Patsy came to lean over the back of Nick’s chair. Nick held the large glass and the photograph so that all three could plainly view the magnified picture. “I’ll explain what I find, and I wonder that I have not noticed it before,” said he quite earnestly. “It relates to this tall woman who appears in the picture.” “Gee! but she is a tall one,” remarked Patsy, with a laugh. “She’s tall enough to fit in a dime museum.” “That’s right, Patsy,” assented Nick, smiling. “What’s peculiar about it, Nick?” “As you probably know, Chick, there is a general uniformity in the proportions of the human body—a regular length of arms and limbs when compared with the trunk. In all normal subjects the proportions are nearly the same.” “Sure,” nodded Chick. “A man’s reach, from the tips of his extended arms and fingers, is usually the same as his height.” “Correct.” “But what has that to do with the picture, Mr. Carter?” asked Patsy. “It has to do with this woman,” Nick rejoined, drawing out his pencil to be used for a pointer. “I want you to notice her extended arm and hand, the one in which she held the leveled revolver.” “That’s plain enough, sir.” “It’s good fortune that it is, Patsy,” nodded Nick. “It also is plain, now that I study it closely, that the arm is a little out of proportion with her exceeding height.” “By Jove! it does appear so!” exclaimed Chick, bending nearer to view the pictured figure. “Notice the distance from her shoulder to her hand, then the distance from her shoulder to her hip, which is plainly outlined by this curve of her long auto coat. Her hip is here, Chick, where I have the point of my pencil.” “Exactly.” “Notice, now, that her extended hand, if it were to be dropped to her side, would reach only to this point, measuring the same distance, a point only a trifle below her hip.” “That’s clear,” cried Chick. “Yet the camera may——” “The camera never lies,” interposed Nick. “Then the woman must be out of proportion,” declared Chick. “Not necessarily.” “But her arm should be longer than it appears there,” Chick insisted. “I’m well-proportioned, I’ll swear to that, and my hand, when lowered, reaches half-way down my thigh.” “Which is about right, Chick.” “Yet you say the woman is not out of proportion——” “I said not necessarily,” interposed Nick. “If she was as tall as she appears in the picture, however, I’ll admit that her arm would be too short for her body.”