"Is this the article you refer to?" he asked.
And then we saw that the tumbler was not empty,—that it held a small object standing upright in it, and that this object was a gold pencil.
"Yes, that is my pencil," Alfred acknowledged. "But——"
"Oh, I am accountable for putting it into the tumbler," the old man admitted. "The tumbler was a clean one, Mr. Gillespie. I assure you I examined it closely before making it a receptacle for this pencil. But the pencil itself—Let me ask you to put your nose to it, Mr. Gillespie."
It was a suggestion capable of but one interpretation. Alfred started back, his eyes staring, his features convulsed. Then he bent impulsively forward and put his nose to the object Mr. Gryce held out. With what result was evident from the sudden damp which broke out on his forehead.
XI
SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT
