“Calabar bean,” McCarty nodded.
“Quite so. I had never heard of it, as it happened, and I looked it up in some books of reference I have; books in common use in every home of intelligent interests. I was called away before I had finished reading the article and marked the page. That page, Mr. McCarty, has been torn from my encyclopædia, and this could only have been done on Wednesday evening.”
The gentle yet dominating voice had continued in its level, perfectly controlled monotone and McCarty looked down at the floor but felt impelled to raise his eyes again. If only the old gentleman would look away for a minute!
“It seems like a queer sort of burglar that would tear a page out of a book he could find anywhere, and the fact that it was an article about Calabar bean, and the notes on fluorine gas gone too—!” The words stuck in McCarty’s throat but he forced himself to go on: “Why should he have took them just from here, when the damage was done with the both of them, and how did he know where to get them, anyway?”
“I have been asking myself those questions but I cannot answer them. However, I am convinced that those two coincidences are more than coincidences and it was my duty to report them.”
“Yes, of course.” McCarty shuffled one foot. “Mr. Parsons, what’s become of your butler, Chris Porter?—Roberts, he called himself here.”
He had launched the question with deliberate abruptness but the gray eyes did not waver.
“You knew of his identity? The record of his misfortune was one of those taken from my filing case.”
“I recognized him and he made a certain confession to me the other day.” McCarty returned the gaze with interest now and he saw Mr. Parsons start slightly, a faint flush rising in the smooth pallor of his cheeks.
“A confession? Christopher was a broken man, subjected to a persecution which would have been unfair even if he were guilty of the charge for which he had suffered imprisonment but I am convinced of his absolute innocence!” he asserted vigorously. “A grave miscarriage of justice had been committed; I could not restore to him the years which our penal system had taken from him but I was endeavoring to help him get on his mental and moral feet again, to win back his self-respect! Mr. McCarty, if Christopher made any supposed confession it must have been wrung from him by coercion! Innocent or guilty he has paid the penalty the State demanded!”