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The Missing Bridegroom
95

along the entire side of the house. Miss Van Sutton then had only to step out of her own window to find a channel of communication ready made for her. You see I had a fairly good working foundation before we entered 'The Maples.'

"You may recall that I found much interest in Endicott's ash trays. Have you ever studied the relation of tobacco to human emotions, Mr. Wiley? You will find it a singularly suggestive field of thought, I assure you.

"The number of cigarette-ends impressed you, perhaps, as it did me. I don't know whether you noticed that, in nearly every case, the cigarette had only been half consumed—and was so torn and crushed as to suggest that it had been thrown aside in disgust. What was the natural conclusion? Obviously, that a man in an extreme state of nervous excitement had been smoking. Now, what could agitate Norris Endicott so remarkably? Not his approaching wedding, surely! Then what? How about the sudden necessity of eliminating himself from that wedding?

"In the closet, you may remember, I found a pair of the bridegroom's shoes. In their way, their presence was exceedingly remarkable. On the hooks, above, was the street suit which Endicott had taken off in preparing for the ceremony. The shoes, however, were the thin-soled, expensive foot-