Evening star., 1932-07-12


surprised for words that crowded
around Emily Trefusis.
Inspector Narracott had led his
prisoner from the room.
Charles Enderby found his voice first
For heavens sake. cough it up,
Emily he said. II want to get to the
telegraph office. Every moments vital. "
1T was Maj. Burnaby who killed
Capt. Trevelyan."
"Well, I saw Narracott arrest him
And l suppose Narracotts sane-hasnt
gone off his nut suddenly. But how can
Burnaby have killed Trevelyan? I mean
how Is it humanly possible? If Trevel-
yam was killed at and 20 past s.
He wasn't. He was killed at about
. quarter to g.
well, but even then"
Il know You'd never guess unless
you Just happened to think Of it. Skis
that's the Xplanation-Skis.
"Skis?" repeated every one.
Emily nodded.
Yes. He deliberately engineered that
table turning 1t wasn't accidental and
done unconsciously as We thought,
Charles. 1t was the second alternative
that we rejected-done on purpose. He
saw it was going to snow before very
long. That would make 1t perfectly safe
impression that Capt. Trevelyan was
dead-got every one all worked up.
Then he pretended to be very upset and
insisted on starting off for Exhampton.
He went home, buckled on his skis
(they were kept in a shed in the garden
with a lot of other tackle) and started.
He was an expert on skis. It's all down
hill to EXhampton-a wonderful run.
1t would only take about 10 minutes.
He arrived at the window and
raped. Capt. Trevelyan let him in, all
unsuspecting. Then, when Capt. Trevel-
yan's back was turned he seized his op-
portunity, picked up that sandbag thing
and-and killed him. Ugh! 1t makes
me sick to think Of it."
She Shuddered.
1T was all quite easy. He had plenty
of time. He must have wiped and
cleaned the skis and then put them
into the cupboard in the dining room
pushed in among all the other things
Then 1 suppose he forced the window
and pulled out all the drawers and
thingS-to make it look as though some
one had broken in.
Then, just before 8 o'clock, all he
had to do was to go out, make detour
on the road higher up and come putting
and painting into EXhampton as though
he'd walked all the way from Sittaford
So long as no one suspected about the
skis, he'd be perfectly safe. The doctor
couldn't fail to say that Capt. Trevelyar
had been dead at least 2 hours. And
as I say, so long as no one thought OF
skis, Maj, Burnaby would have per-
feet alibi"
But they were friends-Burnaby and
Trevelyan," said Mr.. Rycroft. "Old
friends-they've always been friends
It's Incredible"
7 know, said Emily. That's what
I thought. I couldn't see why. puz-
zled and I puzzled and at last had tc
come to Inspector Narracott and MIR
Duke"
She paused and looked at the impas-
sive Mr. Duke.
May I tell them?" she said.
Mr.. Duke smiled
If you like, Miss Trefusis."
"Anyway-no, perhaps you'd rather
didn't. I went to them, and we got
the thing clear. Do you remember tell
ing me, Charles, that Evans mentioned
that Capt. Trevelyan used to send in
solutions of competitions in his name?
He thought Sittaford House was toe
grand an address. Well-that'S what
he did in that foot ball competition
that you gave Maj. BWnaby $4,000 for
1t was Capt. Trevelyan'S solution really
and he sent it in in Burnaby's name
No. l, the Cottages, Sittaford, sounded
much better, he thought. Well, you see
what happened? On Friday morning
Maj Burnaby got the letter saying he'c
won IS. 900 (and by the way. that ough
to have made us suspicious. He tolc
you he never got the letter. That wa
lie Friday morning was the last day
things did come through Where was
7? Oh! Maj. Burnaby getting the let
ter. He wanted that five thousand
wanted it badly. He'd been investing ir
some rotten shares or other and hac
lost a terrible lot of money.
The idea must have come into his
head quite suddenly I should think
Perhaps when he realized it was going
to snow that evening. If Trevelyar
we're dead-he could keep that money
and no one would ever know"
Amazing" murmured Mr.. Rycroft
"Quite amazing. I never dreamed
But my dear young lady, how did you
learn all this? What put you on the
right track?"