"I don't know," I said, helplessly. "He didn't want the letters--if
he opened the drawer at all, it was merely out of curiosity to see
how it worked. Only, of course, the same agency that killed Drouet,
killed him. Yes--and now that I think of it, it's certain he didn't
open the drawer, either."
"How do you know it's certain?"
"If he had opened the drawer," I pointed out, "and been killed in the
act of opening it, it would have been found open. I had thought that
perhaps it closed of itself, but you see that it does not. You have
to push it shut, and then snap the handle up into place."
"That's true," Godfrey assented, "and it sounds pretty conclusive. If
it is true of Vantine, it is also true of Drouet. The inference is,
then, that neither of them opened the drawer. Well, what follows?"
"I don't know," I said helplessly. "Nothing seems to follow."
"There is an alternative," Godfrey suggested.
"What is it?" I demanded.
"The hand that killed Drouet and Vantine may also have closed the
drawer," said Godfrey, and looked at me.
"And left the letters in it?" I questioned. "Surely not!"
He glanced at the shuttered window, and I understood to whom he
thought that hand belonged.
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