She turned to Doctor
Wells.
"You see, Doctor Wells," she explained, "just a moment before you
rang the doorbell a circle of white light was thrown on those
window shades."
The Doctor laughed with a certain relief.
"Why, that was probably the searchlight from my car!" he said. "I
noticed as I drove up that it fell directly on that window."
His explanation seemed to satisfy all present but Lizzie. She
regarded him with a deep suspicion. "'He may be a lawyer, a
merchant, a Doctor...'" she chanted ominously to herself.
Miss Cornelia, too, was not entirely at ease.
"In the center of this ring of light," she proceeded, her eyes on
the Doctor's calm countenance, "was an almost perfect silhouette
of a bat."
"A bat!" The Doctor seemed at sea. "Ah, I see--the symbol of
the criminal of that name." He laughed again.
"I think I can explain what you saw. Quite often my headlights
collect insects at night and a large moth, spread on the glass,
would give precisely the effect you speak of. Just to satisfy you,
I'll go out and take a look."
He turned to do so. Then he caught sight of the raincoat-covered
huddle on the floor.
"Why--" he said in a voice that mingled astonishment with horror.
He paused. His glance slowly traversed the circle of silent faces.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
BILLY PRACTICES JIU-JITSU
"We have had a very sad occurrence here, Doctor," said Miss Cornelia
gently.
The Doctor braced himself.
"Who?"
"Richard Fleming.
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