“Come,” he said laconically and there was something in Carver’s face which told Yeh Ling all that he wanted to know. But there was a fight to be made yet and he was not without hope that this matter of the Trasmere murder and the tragedy that had followed, would be settled in a manner more consonant with his keen sense of obligation.
The inspector did not come to the point at once. He accepted a cigar that the Chinaman offered to him, spoke jocularly of Yeh Ling’s letter writing, asked a question or two about Ursula Ardfern, and at last hinted at the object of his visit.
“Yeh Ling,” he said, “I think the Trasmere case is coming to a solution.”
Yeh Ling’s eyelids did not so much as flicker.
“In fact,” said the inspector, carefully examining the ash of his cigar, “I have found the murderer.”
Yeh Ling said nothing.
“I need very little confirmatory evidence to put the man who killed Jesse Trasmere on the trap,” Carver went on.
“And you have come to me to furnish that evidence,” said Yeh Ling with a touch of irony.
Carver shook his head and smiled.
“I don’t know—I didn’t think you would,” he said, and then almost sharply: “Where are the documents you took from the Trasmere house the night you went there with Miss Ardfern?”