“All this, you understand, was before I had met Miss Vale, and before I was tangled up in the trouble I have just mentioned.

“The fear began to grow on me that Hume meant to use the plans to his own advantage; I knew that he had long been familiar with Locke, who was reputed to be a mechanical genius, and between them, I fancied they’d take action.  I began a watch upon the reports of the Patent Office, thinking that that would finally give me something tangible to use against them.  However, I never gave up my visits to Hume, or my efforts to make him admit possession of my father’s property.

“It was during one of these visits that I first met Spatola; and I was much struck by the performance of his cockatoos.  My father had always held to the idea that the problem of flight would be finally solved by a study of the birds; this gave me an idea, and I took to visiting Spatola in his lodgings in Christie Place.  He’d have the cockatoos fly slowly round and round the big attic, and I’d watch them and make notes.

“It was about this time that I met Miss Vale and asked her to be my wife; a very little later, in an effort to raise money, I got into the financial trouble which I have referred to.  After a little the question of a time for our marriage came up; I was filled with fear and put it off; this occurred several times, and I was at my wits’ end.  I could not marry with that thing hanging over me.  Suppose it should turn out as I feared; imagine the shock to a high spirited girl to discover that she had married a defaulter.

“It was then that I turned to the matter of the plans as my only hope; with a perfected idea I could readily secure a large sum of money in advance.  So I redoubled my efforts to have a settlement with Hume; but he only derided me as usual.  Continued visits to Spatola to study the flight of the birds, showed me that the Italian was a fine fellow, well educated and with much feeling and appreciation.  We became fast friends and so, little by little, I told him my story.”

“About the invention?” asked Ashton-Kirk.

“Yes.”

The investigator turned to Pendleton.

“I think,” said he, “that I now understand why Spatola grew so uncommunicative and suspicious toward the end of our interview at City Hall.  We both thought it was because I spoke of shorthand.  But it was perhaps because I mentioned an invention in the way of writing music.  He feared that I was trying to incriminate Mr. Morris in some way.”

Pendleton nodded.

“That,” said he, “I think explains it.”

“As you no doubt know,” went on Morris, after the investigator had once more given him his attention, “Spatola liked Hume none too well.  And he had reason for his hatred, poor fellow.  Well, he became interested in what I told him; and when he learned that I believed my father’s papers were in all probability somewhere in Hume’s apartments, he suggested that I come to live in Christie Place under an assumed name.  He thought that in time an opportunity would present itself to cross the roofs some night, enter Hume’s place by the scuttle and so possess myself of the plans.