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"There are considerable difficulties both ways, and yet one or the other it must be.

We will suppose first that some person or persons inside the house did the crime.

They got this man down here at a time when everything was still and yet no one was asleep.

They then did the deed with the queerest and noisiest weapon in the world so as to tell everyone what had happened-a weapon that was never seen in the house before.

That does not seem a very likely start, does it?"

"No, it does not."

"Well, then, everyone is agreed that after the alarm was given only a minute at the most had passed before the whole household-not Mr. Cecil Barker alone, though he claims to have been the first, but Ames and all of them were on the spot.

Do you tell me that in that time the guilty person managed to make footmarks in the corner, open the window, mark the sill with blood, take the wedding ring off the dead man's finger, and all the rest of it? It's impossible!"

"You put it very clearly," said Holmes. "I am inclined to agree with you."

"Well, then, we are driven back to the theory that it was done by someone from outside.

We are still faced with some big difficulties; but anyhow they have ceased to be impossibilities.

The man got into the house between four-thirty and six; that is to say, between dusk and the time when the bridge was raised.

There had been some visitors, and the door was open; so there was nothing to prevent him.

He may have been a common burglar, or he may have had some private grudge against Mr. Douglas.

Since Mr. Douglas has spent most of his life in America, and this shotgun seems to be an American weapon, it would seem that the private grudge is the more likely theory.

He slipped into this room because it was the first he came to, and he hid behind the curtain.

There he remained until past eleven at night.

At that time Mr. Douglas entered the room.

It was a short interview, if there were any interview at all; for Mrs. Douglas declares that her husband had not left her more than a few minutes when she heard the shot."

"The candle shows that," said Holmes.

"Exactly. The candle, which was a new one, is not burned more than half an inch.

He must have placed it on the table before he was attacked; otherwise, of course, it would have fallen when he fell.

This shows that he was not attacked the instant that he entered the room.

When Mr. Barker arrived the candle was lit and the lamp was out."

"That's all clear enough."

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