The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1923-02-16

had been carelessly flung there by a
man preparing for bed.
After going through Sykes, pockets
BARLEY said slowly, II have grave
doubts IL he was even killed in this
ROOM"
He continued to examine the room,
searching the floor, looking into the
drawers of the desk, examining the
walls even; then he came back to the
clothing. Picking up the blue silk
shirt from the chair, he examined it
a second time before he said: II was
tight. He was not killed in this room.
Here is the suit he wore. You will
notice that all his clothing is placed
on this chair in the manner that a
man would naturally place it if he
was undressing for bed. But there
is no button in the front of his shirt
to hold his collar, and one stocking
is missing. Any man may lose col
lar button, but if he does, that button
will be dropped at the place where he
undressed. No button is in this room.
It was lost in the room in which he
was undressed. We find his shoes
here but only one stocking, and we
naturally ask where is the other stock
ing. Then, too, there are no blood
stains anywhere in this room. Though
his wound did not bleed much, it must
have bled some. These are the rea-
sons why / say he was not killed in
this room. or even undressed here"
His explanation seemed reasonable
enough, yet somewhat mystifying.
Why had the murderer taken all this
trouble to undress Slyke, and why had
he done it in some other room? The
next question was just as puzzling. If
Slyke had not been killed in this room,
where had the crime taken place? AS
if he had read my thoughts, Roche
suggested that as there was another
could be found there.
The butler, who entered at this mo-
ment, did his best not to glance at
the bed. He was holding with great
difficultysa half-grown Airedale that
growled fiercely when he saw us. The
butler motioned to the doctor to come
to him. AS he reached his side, Doc
tor King placed his hand upon the
dogs head and it ceased to show its
teeth and licked his fingers. For sew
eral moments he and the butler held
low conversation, then King turned
to us to say that he had just been
called to the hospital for an operation
and would have to leave at once.
BARLEY scrubbed something on a
piece Of paper, ana handing it to the
doctor said, 81 think there ought to
be picture taken of the body so
it can be used at the inquest"
The doctor agreed and went out, ac-
companied by the butler. AS the door
closed behind them BARLEY went to
lock it, but the key was missing.
After a moments hesitation he de-
cided it would do no harm to leave
it unlocked while we were gone, and
we all started for the floor above.
The room we entered was of the
same size as the one in which we had
found Slyke. Here, too, there was
little furniture-three chairs grouped
around a little table in the center of
the room, lounge in one corner
small desk in another. 1t was the
table that attracted Bartley's atten-
ton. On it stood half-emptied
bottle of Scotch whisky, and beside
the bottle three glasses, one of them
holding about a spoonful of liquor
Near one of the glasses was half
smoked cigarette and magazine, and
on the opposite side of the table the
stub Of cigar. BARLEY looked at
both of them with keen interest and
finally placed Them in an envelope.
The cigarette must have been very
high-priced one, for the end was of
the finest straw. The appearance of
the table suggested that three men
had been present and that two of
them had been smoking. A confer
ence, perhaps, at which bottle of
whisky had assisted. Aside from the
table, there seemed to be nothing of
luleFeSL III -Iu6 TOOul.
While BARLEY was still glancing at
the table, l walked over to the large
window and drew aside. the heavy cur
tain that reached to the floor At my
feet was playing card that had been
concealed by its folds. CHANGING
around to see if there were any others
and finding none, ! brought the card
to BARLEY.
AS stepped to his side, saw that
he was examining the magazine Like
many magazines. the back carried a
gAudy advertisement that covered the
entire page. This one had an unusual
amount Of unused white space. Bart
ley pointed silently to where someone
had idly amused himself by drawing
ON it with a pencil, a habit many
people have. The design was simple,
only a mass of scrolls, with little