Part 26 (2/2)

”I suppose you refer to the charred head, the burned neck, the upper chest cavity, while the arms and legs were untouched?”

”Yes, and then the body was found in the midst of combustible furniture that was not touched. It seems to me that even the spontaneous-combustion theory has considerable support in spite of this very interesting circ.u.mstantial evidence about blood-spots. Next to my own theory, the combustion theory seems most in harmony with the facts.”

”If you will go over in your mind all the points proved to have been discovered--not the added points in the Record story--I think you will agree with me that mine is a more logical interpretation than spontaneous combustion,” reasoned Craig. ”Hear me out and you will see that the facts are more in harmony with my less fanciful explanation.

No, someone struck Lewis Langley down either in pa.s.sion or in cold blood, and then, seeing what he had done, made a desperate effort to destroy the evidence of violence. Consider my next discovery.”

Kennedy placed the five gla.s.ses which I had carefully sealed and labelled on the table before us.

”The next step,” he said, ”was to find out whether any articles of clothing in the house showed marks that might be suspected of being blood-spots. And here I must beg the pardon of all in the room for intruding in their private wardrobes. But in this crisis it was absolutely necessary, and under such circ.u.mstances I never let ceremony stand before justice.

”In these five gla.s.ses on the table I have the was.h.i.+ngs of spots from the clothing worn by Tom, Mr. James Langley, Junior, Harrington Brown, and Doctor Putnam. I am not going to tell you which is which--indeed I merely have them marked, and I do not know them myself. But Mr. Jameson has the marks with the names opposite on a piece of paper in his pocket.

I am simply going to proceed with the tests to see if any of the stains on the coats were of blood.”

Just then Doctor Putnam interposed. ”One question, Professor Kennedy.

It is a comparatively easy thing to recognise a blood-stain, but it is difficult, usually impossible, to tell whether the blood is that of a man or of an animal. I recall that we were all in our hunting-jackets that day, had been all day. Now, in the morning there had been an operation on one of the horses at the stable, and I a.s.sisted the veterinary from town. I may have got a spot or two of blood on my coat from that operation. Do I understand that this test would show that?”

”No,” replied Craig, ”this test would not show that. Other tests would, but not this. But if the spot of human blood were less than the size of a pin-head, it would show--it would show if the spot contained even so little as one twenty-thousandth of a gram of alb.u.min. Blood from a horse, a deer, a sheep, a pig, a dog, could be obtained, but when the test was applied the liquid in which they were diluted would remain clear. No white precipitin, as it is called, would form. But let human blood, ever so diluted, be added to the serum of the inoculated rabbit, and the test is absolute.”

A death-like silence seemed to pervade the room. Kennedy slowly and deliberately began to test the contents of the gla.s.ses. Dropping into each, as he broke the seal, some of the serum of the rabbit, he waited a moment to see if any change occurred.

It was thrilling. I think no one could have gone through that fifteen minutes without having it indelibly impressed on his memory. I recall thinking as Kennedy took each gla.s.s, ”Which is it to be, guilt or innocence, life or death?” Could it be possible that a man's life might hang on such a slender thread? I knew Kennedy was too accurate and serious to deceive us. It was not only possible, it was actually a fact.

The first gla.s.s showed no reaction. Someone had been vindicated.

The second was neutral likewise--another person in the room had been proved innocent.

The third--no change. Science had released a third.

The fourth--

Almost it seemed as if the record in my pocket burned--spontaneously--so intense was my feeling. There in the gla.s.s was that fatal, telltale white precipitate.

”My G.o.d, it's the milk ring!” whispered Tom close to my ear.

Hastily Kennedy dropped the serum into the fifth. It remained as clear as crystal.

My hand trembled as it touched the envelope containing my record of the names.

”The person who wore the coat with that blood-stain on it,” declared Kennedy solemnly, ”was the person who struck Lewis Langley down, who choked him and then dragged his scarcely dead body across the floor and obliterated the marks of violence in the blazing log fire. Jameson, whose name is opposite the sign on this gla.s.s?”

I could scarcely tear the seal to look at the paper in the envelope. At last I unfolded it, and my eye fell on the name opposite the fatal sign.

But my mouth was dry, and my tongue refused to move. It was too much like reading a death-sentence. With my finger on the name I faltered an instant.

Tom leaned over my shoulder and read it to himself. ”For Heaven's sake, Jameson,” he cried, ”let the ladies retire before you read the name.”

”It's not necessary,” said a thick voice. ”We quarrelled over the estate. My share's mortgaged up to the limit, and Lewis refused to lend me more even until I could get Isabelle happily married. Now Lewis's goes to an outsider--Harrington, boy, take care of Isabelle, fortune or no fortune. Good--”

Someone seized James Langley's arm as he pressed an automatic revolver to his temple. He reeled like a drunken man and dropped the gun on the floor with an oath.

”Beaten again,” he muttered. ”Forgot to move the ratchet from 'safety'

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