“No, sir,” and the lad grew suddenly quiet. “But I know. Wait just a minute, sir. Where are the photographs of the house that the detectives took the day after?”
“I’ll get them,” Lockwood said, and left the room.
He returned, and Fibsy found a magnifying glass and looked carefully at certain pictures.
“It proves,” he said, solemnly. “F. Stone, you have solved your greatest case!”
It was characteristic of the boy, that although the solution was his own, his deference to Stone was sincere and un-self-conscious.
“Please,” he said, “I don’t know Latin, but you will find the explanation of Doctor Waring’s death on that red stained page. He was reading Martial, as we know, and—” he pointed to the Epigram on the page in question, “as he read that, he found a way out.”
The grave statement was impressive, and Stone took the book.
“Shall I translate, or read the Latin aloud?” he asked the others.
“Wait a minute, I’ll get a Martial in English,” Lockwood said, out of consideration for Trask’s possible ignorance of the dead language.
“What number is the Epigram?” he asked, returning.