6. The Clue of Seven Radiograms.
7. The Clue of Elimination.
8. The Clue of Terse Style.
"It doesn't mean a devil of a lot to me," said Morgan. "The first two you could apply in any way you like… Wait! Don't puff and blow, sir! — I say 'you,' meaning myself. And I don't like to consider the suggestion of the third… But what about seven razors? We didn't find seven razors."
"Exactly," boomed the doctor, pointing his fork as though that explained it. "The point is that there probably were seven razors, you see. That's the point."
"You mean we ought to have looked for them?"
"Oh, no! The Barber would have got rid of the others. All you should have done was remember that they were seven. Eh?"
"And then," said Morgan, "this point about seven radiograms… What seven radiograms? There are only two radiograms I mentioned in my story."
"Ah, I should have explained about that," said Dr. Fell, skewering a sausage. "Seven — mystic number; rounded, complete, suggestive number with a curious history. I use it advisedly in place of the word 'several,' because we assume there were several. The interesting thing is that I Hill not referring to any radiograms you saw. You didn't see 'em. That's very significant, hey?"
"No, I'll be damned if it is," said Morgan, somewhat violently. "If we didn't see 'em—"