“The prints are exactly as they were made, Mr. Lockwood. The unchanging cold weather has kept them intact. I tried this shoe, and the prints are unmistakable. Moreover, the short stride is just the measure of the natural steps of Miss Austin. The footprints lead from the Adams house over here and back again. The returning prints occasionally overlap the ones that came this way, showing that the trip away from this house was made latest. Miss Austin was seen to come over in this direction—well, none but a half-wit would be blind to the inevitable conclusions!” “None but a half-wit would read into this evidence what you pretend to see,” retorted Lockwood, almost losing his calm. “That’s my business,” Cray said, sharply: “now, Mr. Lockwood, why did you smooth off that chair back? Careful, now, two witnesses saw you do it.” “I’m not denying it”—Lockwood smiled in a bored, superior way, “but if I did it, I was—and am unconscious of it. One often touches a piece of furniture in passing with no thought of doing so.” “That won’t go down. Both the butler and Miss Peyton saw you definitely and deliberately rub over the back of that chair. Why did you do it?” Cray was inexorable. But the impassive secretary merely shrugged his shoulders. “I can’t answer you, Mr. Cray. I can only repeat it must have been an unconscious act on my part, and it has no sinister significance. I may have been merely pushing the chair out of my way, you know.” “Look here, Mr. Lockwood, you are a man of honor. Do you, upon oath, declare that you did not purposely smooth that chairback, for the reason that it showed some incriminating impress?” “I am not under oath. I have stated that I did not do what you accuse me of, and I have nothing further to say on the subject.” Lockwood drew himself up and leaned with folded arms against the mantelpiece. Cray dropped the subject, but his snapping eyes and compressed lips seemed to show he had not finally dismissed it. “At what time,” he said, abruptly, “did Doctor Waring lock his study door?” “About ten o’clock,” the secretary replied. “And you heard nothing from the room after that? No sound of voices? Nobody coming in at the French window?” “No,” replied Lockwood.