Rolfe began to scrutinise the articles of furniture in the room,
wondering if there was anything about them which might reveal something
of the habits of the dead man. He produced a small electric torch from
his pocket, and with its light to guide him in the half-darkened room, he
closely inspected each piece of furniture. Then, with the torch in his
hand, he returned to the sofa and flashed it over the dead body. He
started violently when the light, falling on the dead man's closed hand,
revealed a tiny scrap of white. Eagerly he endeavoured to release the
fragment from the tenacious clutch of the dead without tearing it, and
eventually he managed to detach it. His heart bounded when he saw that it
was a small torn piece of lace and muslin. He placed it in the palm of
his left hand and examined it closely under the light of his torch. To
him it looked to be part of a fashionable lady's dainty handkerchief. He
was elated at his discovery and he wondered how Inspector Chippenfield
had overlooked it. Then the explanation struck him. The small piece of
lace and muslin had been effectually hidden in the dead man's clenched
hand, and his efforts to open the hand had loosened it.
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