“Miss Mount could have planted it,” he added, “when she tried the cross-bow, just to confuse the trail. She had more opportunity to move about unobserved than anyone else in the house except Stimson. Why, you heard someone outside the library windows last night! Miss Mount has admitted to us that she was outdoors just before dinner. She was attaching her thread to the reception-room window!”
“It’s all circumstantial,” said Graham. “I doubt whether a jury would convict on it without a confession.”
“It’s a confession we want, of course. But I’ll bet the grand jury will indict her on that evidence! I’m surprised at you fellows! It’s a complete chain of evidence. We found her up and dressed at midnight last night,” added Landis dryly. “She said she was coming over here during the night to see how you were resting, Graham!”
The young lawyer checked an involuntary shudder. “My God! If—if you are right—”
“I’m right!” declared Landis confidently.
Bernard leaned back and drew from his pocket the gloves he had found in Joel’s room. He had rolled them into a loose ball which he tossed in his hand until Graham looked at him with interested inquiry.
“Bernard has some theory about those gloves that he won’t spill,” chuckled Landis. “Don’t pay any attention to him. He’s just whetting our curiosity.”
“These gloves,” said Bernard solemnly, “will solve our case for us!”
“That’s a real relief,” retorted Landis with some irony. “Just how do you figure that out?”