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ask,โ€ asked Holmes, โ€œwhat the words were which attracted your attention?โ€

โ€œThe Valley of Fear,โ€ the lady answered. โ€œThat was an expression he has used when I questioned him. 'I have been in the Valley of Fear. I am not out of it yet.'โ€”'Are we never to get out of the Valley of Fear?' I have asked him when I have seen him more serious than usual. 'Sometimes I think that we never shall,' he has answered.โ€

โ€œSurely you asked him what he meant by the Valley of Fear?โ€

โ€œI did; but his face would become very grave and he would shake his head. 'It is bad enough that one of us should have been in its shadow,' he said. 'Please God it shall never fall upon you!' It was some real valley in which he had lived and in which something terrible had occurred to him, of that I am certain; but I can tell you no more.โ€

โ€œAnd he never mentioned any names?โ€

โ€œYes, he was delirious with fever once when he had his hunting accident three years ago. Then I remember that there was a name that came continually to his lips. He spoke it with anger and a sort of horror. McGinty was the nameโ€”Bodymaster McGinty. I asked him when he recovered who Bodymaster McGinty was, and whose body he was master of. 'Never of mine, thank God!' he answered with a laugh, and that was all I could get from him. But there is a connection between Bodymaster McGinty and the Valley of Fear.โ€

โ€œThere is one other point,โ€ said Inspector MacDonald. โ€œYou met Mr. Douglas in a boarding house in London, did you not, and became engaged to him there? Was there any romance, anything secret or mysterious, about the wedding?โ€

โ€œThere was romance. There is always romance. There was nothing mysterious.โ€

โ€œHe had no rival?โ€

โ€œNo, I was quite free.โ€

โ€œYou have heard, no doubt, that his wedding ring has been taken. Does that suggest anything to you? Suppose that some enemy of his old life had tracked him down and committed this crime, what possible reason could he have for taking his wedding ring?โ€

For an instant I could have sworn that the faintest shadow of a smile flickered over the woman's lips.

โ€œI really cannot tell,โ€ she answered. โ€œIt is certainly a most extraordinary thing.โ€

โ€œWell, we will not detain you any longer, and we are sorry to have put you to this trouble at such a time,โ€ said the inspector. โ€œThere are some other points, no doubt; but we can refer to you as they arise.โ€

She rose, and I was again conscious of that quick, questioning glance with which she had just surveyed us. โ€œWhat impression has my evidence made upon you?โ€ The question might as well have been spoken. Then, with a bow, she swept from the room.

โ€œShe's a beautiful womanโ€”a very beautiful woman,โ€ said MacDonald thoughtfully, after the door had closed behind her. โ€œThis man Barker has certainly been down here a good deal. He is a man who might be attractive to a woman. He admits that the dead man was jealous, and maybe he knew best himself what cause he had for jealousy. Then there's that wedding ring. You can't get past that. The man who tears a wedding ring off a dead man'sโ€”What do you say to it, Mr. Holmes?โ€

My friend had sat with his head upon his hands, sunk in the deepest thought. Now he rose and rang the bell. โ€œAmes,โ€ he said, when the butler entered, โ€œwhere is Mr. Cecil Barker now?โ€

โ€œI'll see, sir.โ€

He came back in a moment to say that Barker was in the garden.

โ€œCan you remember, Ames, what Mr. Barker had on his feet last night when you joined him in the study?โ€

โ€œYes, Mr. Holmes. He had a pair of bedroom slippers. I brought him his boots when he went for the police.โ€

โ€œWhere are the slippers now?โ€

โ€œThey are still under the chair in the hall.โ€

โ€œVery good, Ames. It is, of course, important for us to know which tracks may be Mr. Barker's and which from outside.โ€

โ€œYes, sir. I may say that I noticed that the slippers were stained with bloodโ€”so indeed were my own.โ€

โ€œThat is natural enough, considering the condition of the room. Very good, Ames. We will ring if we want you.โ€

A few minutes later we were in the study. Holmes had brought with him the carpet slippers from the hall. As Ames had observed, the soles of both were dark with blood.

โ€œStrange!โ€ murmured Holmes, as he stood in the light of the window and examined them minutely. โ€œVery strange indeed!โ€

Stooping with one of his quick feline pounces, he placed the slipper upon the blood mark on the sill. It exactly corresponded. He smiled in silence at his colleagues.

The inspector was transfigured with excitement. His native accent rattled like a stick upon railings.

โ€œMan,โ€ he cried, โ€œthere's not a doubt of it! Barker has just marked the window himself. It's a good deal broader than any bootmark. I mind that you said it was a splay-foot, and here's the explanation. But what's the game, Mr. Holmesโ€”what's the game?โ€

โ€œAy, what's the game?โ€ my friend repeated thoughtfully.

White Mason chuckled and rubbed his fat hands together in his professional satisfaction. โ€œI said it was a snorter!โ€ he cried. โ€œAnd a real snorter it is!โ€





Chapter 6โ€”A Dawning Light

The three detectives had many matters of detail into which to inquire; so I returned alone to our modest quarters at the village inn. But before doing so I took a stroll in the curious old-world garden which flanked the house. Rows of very ancient yew trees cut into strange designs girded it round. Inside was a beautiful stretch of lawn with an old sundial in the middle, the whole effect so soothing and restful that it was welcome to my somewhat jangled nerves.

In that deeply peaceful atmosphere one could forget, or remember only as some fantastic nightmare, that darkened study with the sprawling, bloodstained figure on the floor. And yet, as I strolled round it and tried to steep my soul in its gentle balm, a strange incident occurred, which brought me back to the tragedy and left a sinister impression in my mind.

I have said that a decoration of yew trees circled the garden. At the end farthest from the house they thickened into a continuous hedge. On the other side of this hedge, concealed from the eyes of anyone approaching from the direction of the house, there was a stone seat. As I approached the

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