“It’s all true,” said Hall slowly.  “You have the facts all right.  But, unless you have had me shadowed, will you tell me how you knew it all?”

And then Fleming Stone told of his observations and deductions when we noticed the muddied shoes at the Metropolis Hotel that morning.

“But,” he said, as he concluded, “when I hastily adjudged the young lady to be deaf in the left ear, I see now I was mistaken.  As soon as I realized Mr. Hall himself is deaf in the right ear, especially so in damp or wet weather, I saw that it fitted the case as well as if the lady had been deaf in her left ear.  Then a note in his pocket from a lady in Brooklyn made me quite sure I was right.”

“But, Mr. Stone,” said Lawyer Randolph, “it is very astonishing that you should make those deductions from those shoes, and then come out here and meet the owner of the shoes.”

“It seems more remarkable than it really is, Mr. Randolph,” was the response; “for I am continually observing whatever comes to my notice.  Hundreds of my deductions are never verified, or even thought of again; so it is not so strange that now and then one should prove of use in my work.”

“Well,” said the district attorney, “it seems wonderful to me.  But now that Mr. Hall has proved his alibi, or, rather, Mr. Stone has proved it for him, we must begin anew our search for the real criminal.”

“One moment,” said Gregory Hall.  “As you know, gentlemen, I endeavored to keep this little matter of my going to Brooklyn a secret.  As it has no possible bearing on the case of Mr. Crawford, may I ask of you to respect my desire that you say nothing about it?”

“For my part,” said the district attorney, “I am quite willing to grant Mr. Hall’s request.  I have put him to unnecessary trouble and embarrassment by having him arrested, and I shall be glad to do him this favor that he asks, by way of amends.”

But Mr. Randolph seemed reluctant to make the required promise, and Fleming Stone looked at Hall, and said nothing.

Then I spoke out, and, perhaps with scant courtesy, I said: 

“I, for one, refuse to keep this revelation a secret.  It was discovered by the detective engaged by Miss Lloyd.  Therefore, I think Miss Lloyd is entitled to the knowledge we have thus gained.”

Mr. Randolph looked at me with approval.  He was a good friend of Florence Lloyd, and he was of no mind to hide from her something which it might be better for her to know.

Gregory Hall set his lips together in a way which argued no pleasant feelings toward me, but he said nothing then.  He was forthwith released from custody, and the rest of us separated; having arranged to meet that evening at Miss Lloyd’s home to discuss matters.

XXI

THE DISCLOSURE

Except the half-hour required for a hasty dinner, Fleming Stone devoted the intervening time to looking over the reports of the coroner’s inquest, and in asking me questions about all the people who were connected with the affair.