The rest of us watched him thoughtfully. We remembered that
Jerome's digging had been done after Queen's disappearance. And
the dog had vanished in the rear room, the one in which Chick and
Dr. Holcomb had last been seen. Now, when Jerome had dug the clay
from the basement under this, the dining-room, he had thrown it
through the once concealed opening in the partition; had thrown
the clay, that is, in a small heap under the library. And--after
Jerome had done this the phenomena had occurred in the library,
not in the dining-room.
"By Jove!" ejaculated General Hume, as I pointed this out. "This
may be something more, you know, that mere coincidence!"
Sir Henry said nothing, but continued his spading. He paid
attention to nothing save the heap that Jerome had formed. And
with each spadeful he bent over and examined the clay very
carefully.
Miss Clarke and Mme. Le Fabre both remained very calm about it
all. Each from her own viewpoint regarded the work as more or less
a waste of time. But I noticed that they did not take their eyes
from the spade.
Sir Henry stopped to rest. "Let me," offered Herold; and went on
as the Englishman had done, holding up each spadeful for
inspection. And it was thus that we made a strange discovery.
We all saw it at the same time. Embedded in the bluish earth was a
small, egg-shaped piece of light-coloured stone.
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