"Meaning," I answered, "that your drunken man has disappeared. Meaning that it would be entirely
possible for him to have been your confederate. Meaning that the episode which so impressed the worthy
Shevlin could very well have been merely a clever bit of acting, and the doll in the street and the
opportunely speeding automobile a carefully planned maneuver to bring about the exact result it had
accomplished. After all, I have only your word and the chauffeur's word that the doll was not down in the
car the whole time you were here last night. Meaning that-"
I stopped, realizing that, essentially, I was only venting upon him the bad temper aroused by my
perplexity.
"I'll finish for you," he said. "Meaning that I'm the one behind the whole thing."
His face was white, and his muscles tense.