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THE VIADUCT MURDER

"Well⁠—that stick. It had a perfect right to be in Reeves' room. He found it yesterday afternoon on the railway line; Brotherhood must have dropped it when⁠—he fell. So of course Reeves brought it back here, and it was standing up against his chair last night. There was nobody sitting there."

"But hang it all, I swear I heard somebody breathing."

"You did. That was just bad luck. The fact is, Reeves and I were fooling about inside that secret passage, and saw you come in. And the breathing was done by Reeves, off."

"Good Lord! Why didn't you tell me?"

"Well, you didn't give us much chance, did you, going and locking yourself up in your room like that? And then this morning Reeves phoned you up from the steward's office to tell you the news."

"What news?"

"That the mystery about Brotherhood's murder was solved."

"Oh, yes⁠—Davenant did it, didn't he? They were telling me about it at the station."

"Well, you see, Reeves must have started by saying 'About Brotherhood,' or something like that. And then, like a fool, you dropped the tube and legged it for London."

"Well, upon my word! Do you know, Gordon, now I come to think of it, I don't mind if I do."

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