It was an ordinary-looking room enough, the walls being entirely lined with books. There were books everywhere, not an inch of space being available for more. The ceiling was quite plain, and the closest search failed to disclose anything in the way of an apparatus by which the sounds of music could be conveyed from a distance into the study. Jack looked round with a puzzled frown.
"All the same, it must come that way," he said. "I know perfectly well that one of Padini's recitals came into this room as if it had been carried by some electrical means."
"A sort of telephone, I suppose," Rigby said. "Of course, we have all heard of the theatre-phone, but that theory would not work out in this case. With the dodge in question you have to plug both ears with a kind of receiver, and even then the music is only audible to those using the little receivers. In the present instance I understand that the whole room is flooded with melody, just as if the player were actually here."
"You've got it exactly," Jack explained. "I have heard it myself, and so has Claire; and both of us spotted the music as being in precisely the style of Padini. Hang me if I can see the slightest sign of how the thing is worked."
Rigby said nothing; indeed, he was hardly listening. He was pacing round the room pulling armfuls of books out here and there, as if expecting to find some cunning device hidden behind the volumes. He stooped to pick up Anstruther's violin case, which lay upon the floor. The case had been recently dropped, or some weight had fallen upon it, for the lid was cracked all across, and the hinges were broken. Rigby gave a little cry as he threw back the lid.
"Here's a discovery for you," he exclaimed. "Anstruther's violin with the neck broken off. If you will look at it closely, you will see that it is covered with dust, and evidently has not been used for days. Of course, it is just possible that Anstruther possesses two violins----"
"I know as a matter of fact that he doesn't," Jack said. "This is his Cremona right enough. I have had it in my hands a hundred times."
"We are getting on," Rigby laughed. "This room has been flooded with melody night after night, and yet we know for a fact that Anstruther's violin has been absolutely useless."
"That does not help us to a solution of the problem," Jack said. "But I have an idea. We shall never get to the truth through Anstruther, but Padini may help us. Now it is very improbable that Anstruther will be back under an hour. I'll stay here whilst you go off to the Great Metropolitan Hotel and see Padini. If you flatter him a bit, he will probably play to you. He will certainly do this in his own room, because professionals of mark never practice in public. What I am driving at is this: I feel quite certain that whatever Padini plays to you, I shall hear in this room."
"Excellent," Rigby cried. "I will go at once."