“Really?” Shelley’s eyebrows rose interrogatively. He in his turn was prepared to do some bluffing. The little man would be much more likely to give out all the information which was at his disposal if he was encouraged to think that his facts were not in any way astonishing, but was permitted to imagine that he could merely confirm information already received from other sources. Shelley may have looked simple enough, but in actuality he was far from it, as many an over-confident criminal had found to his cost.

“Yes,” said Henry. “And I got into touch with a friend who works on one of the London daily papers, and enquired if he remembered anything about such a case.”

“And did he?” Shelley was unable to restrain his eagerness now, as he began to realise whither this conversation was leading.

“He did. He remembered that the man who had died in the Reading Room of the British Museum some six months ago was Professor Wilkinson of Northfield University.” Henry was satisfied that his new information was of the most sensational kind, and he was frankly disappointed at the matter-of-fact way in which the Scotland Yard man took it.

“But why do you think that such a death, taking place some six months ago, necessarily had anything to do with the present murder?” asked Shelley.

“Well…” This point had apparently not occurred to Henry. “But it is surely obvious…” he said, and paused irresolutely.

“What is obvious, Mr. Fairhurst?”

“Surely if two men, each experts in one particular branch of knowledge, each die in one spot, even though their deaths are separated by some months, there is some presumption that their deaths are in some way connected.”

“A possibility, but by no means a presumption,” Shelley corrected him. “After all, there have been remarkable coincidences of that sort before, and no doubt there will be again. It is by no means impossible that this is a coincidence.”

“Do you really think so?”

“I don’t think anything about it yet. I want to know all the facts of the man’s death. Do you know anything about it? What verdict did the coroner’s jury bring in—for I assume that there was an inquest, since it was apparently a sudden death? What was the medical evidence? Was there any indication that Professor Wilkinson, like our friend Arnell, was poisoned? You see, Mr. Fairhurst, there are all sorts of questions to be settled before we come to any kind of conclusion as to whether the two deaths are connected by anything more than mere coincidence.” Shelley was quite breathless after this tirade, but he was pleased to observe, by the look of bewilderment that had gradually spread over Fairhurst’s face, that he was producing the desired impression. He felt sure that Fairhurst would be a useful witness; but not if he persisted in twisting every fact to fit some pet theory of his own.