"
"And when he was held up in this room by a man with a revolver he made a
dash for his own revolver and got in the first shot?" suggested Rolfe,
with the idea of outlining Crewe's theory of how the crime was committed.
"It is scarcely possible to reconstruct the crime to that extent," said
Crewe with a smile. "But undoubtedly Sir Horace got in the first shot. If
he fired after he was hit his bullet would have gone wild--would probably
have struck the ceiling--whereas it landed there. Let us measure the
height from the floor." He pulled a small spool out of a waistcoat pocket
and drew out a tape measure. "A little high for the heart of an average
man, and probably a foot wide of the mark."
"And what do you make of the disappearance of Sir Horace's revolver?"
asked Rolfe, who seemed to his superior officer to be in danger of
displaying some admiration for deductive methods.
"I'm no good at guess-work," replied Crewe, who felt that he had given
enough information away.
"Well," said Rolfe, "here is a glove which was found in the room. The
other one is missing. It might be a clue."
Crewe took the glove and examined it carefully. It was a left-hand glove
made of reindeer-skin, and grey in colour.
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