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He had been dead some days, but there was no wound or bruise upon his person to show how he had met his dreadful end.

When his body had been carried from the cellar we found ourselves still confronted with a problem which was almost as formidable as that with which we had started.

"I confess that so far, Watson, I had been disappointed in my investigation.

I had reckoned upon solving the matter when once I had found the place referred to in the Ritual; but now I was there, and was apparently as far as ever from knowing what it was which the family had concealed with such elaborate precautions.

It is true that I had thrown a light upon the fate of Brunton, but now I had to ascertain how that fate had come upon him, and what part had been played in the matter by the woman who had disappeared.

I sat down upon a keg in the corner and thought the whole matter carefully over.

"You know my methods in such cases, Watson.

I put myself in the man's place and, having first gauged his intelligence, I try to imagine how I should myself have proceeded under the same circumstances.

In this case the matter was simplified by Brunton's intelligence being quite first-rate, so that it was unnecessary to make any allowance for the personal equation, as the astronomers have dubbed it.

He knew that something valuable was concealed.

He had spotted the place.

He found that the stone which covered it was just too heavy for a man to move unaided.

What would he do next? He could not get help from outside, even if he had some one whom he could trust, without the unbarring of doors and considerable risk of detection.

It was better, if he could, to have his helpmate inside the house.

But whom could he ask? This girl had been devoted to him.

A man always finds it hard to realize that he may have finally lost a woman's love, however badly he may have treated her.

He would try by a few attentions to make his peace with the girl Howells, and then would engage her as his accomplice.

Together they would come at night to the cellar, and their united force would suffice to raise the stone.

So far I could follow their actions as if I had actually seen them.

"But for two of them, and one a woman, it must have been heavy work the raising of that stone.

A burly Sussex policeman and I had found it no light job.

What would they do to assist them? Probably what I should have done myself.

I rose and examined carefully the different billets of wood which were scattered round the floor.

Almost at once I came upon what I expected.

One piece, about three feet in length, had a very marked indentation at one end, while several were flattened at the sides as if they had been compressed by some considerable weight.

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