I saw that a problem was presented to Inspector Edwards which sorely puzzled him, as it certainly did myself.
"Well," I asked after a pause, and then with some trepidation put the question, "what do you intend doing?"
"Doing!" he echoed. "There is but one course to pursue. We must get in touch with this woman who says she knows the truth, and obtain what information we can from her. Perhaps she can reveal the identity of the woman whose fingers touched that glass-topped table in the room where the crime was committed. If so, that will tell us a great deal, Mr. Royle." Then, taking a cigarette from his pocket and tapping it, he added, "Do you know, I've been wondering of late how it is that you got those finger-prints which so exactly corresponded with the ones which we secured in the flat. How did you obtain them?"
His question non-plussed me.
"I had a suspicion," I replied in a faltering voice, "and I tried to corroborate it."
"But you have corroborated it," he declared. "Why, Mr. Royle, those prints you brought to the Yard are a most important clue. Where did you get them?"
I was silent for a moment, jostled by the crowd of passers-by.
"Well," I said with a faint smile, realising what a grave mistake I had made in inculpating my well-beloved, "I simply made some experiments as an amateur in solving the mystery."
"Yes, but those prints were the same as those we got from the flat. Whence did they come?"
"I obtained them upon my own initiative," I replied, with a forced laugh.