“Well, Mr. Mac, it is very good and very clear so far as it goes.  That is your end of the story.  My end is that the crime was committed half an hour earlier than reported; that Mrs. Douglas and Barker are both in a conspiracy to conceal something; that they aided the murderer’s escape—­or at least that they reached the room before he escaped—­and that they fabricated evidence of his escape through the window, whereas in all probability they had themselves let him go by lowering the bridge.  That’s my reading of the first half.”

The two detectives shook their heads.

“Well, Mr. Holmes, if this is true, we only tumble out of one mystery into another,” said the London inspector.

“And in some ways a worse one,” added White Mason.  “The lady has never been in America in all her life.  What possible connection could she have with an American assassin which would cause her to shelter him?”

“I freely admit the difficulties,” said Holmes.  “I propose to make a little investigation of my own to-night, and it is just possible that it may contribute something to the common cause.”

“Can we help you, Mr. Holmes?”

“No, no!  Darkness and Dr. Watson’s umbrella—­my wants are simple.  And Ames, the faithful Ames, no doubt he will stretch a point for me.  All my lines of thought lead me back invariably to the one basic question—­why should an athletic man develop his frame upon so unnatural an instrument as a single dumb-bell?”

It was late that night when Holmes returned from his solitary excursion.  We slept in a double-bedded room, which was the best that the little country inn could do for us.  I was already asleep when I was partly awakened by his entrance.

“Well, Holmes,” I murmured, “have you found anything out?”

He stood beside me in silence, his candle in his hand.  Then the tall, lean figure inclined towards me.  “I say, Watson,” he whispered, “would you be afraid to sleep in the same room with a lunatic, a man with softening of the brain, an idiot whose mind has lost its grip?”

“Not in the least,” I answered in astonishment.

“Ah, that’s lucky,” he said, and not another word would he utter that night.

Chapter 7 — The Solution

Next morning, after breakfast, we found Inspector MacDonald and White Mason seated in close consultation in the small parlour of the local police sergeant.  On the table in front of them were piled a number of letters and telegrams, which they were carefully sorting and docketing.  Three had been placed on one side.

“Still on the track of the elusive bicyclist?” Holmes asked cheerfully.  “What is the latest news of the ruffian?”

MacDonald pointed ruefully to his heap of correspondence.

“He is at present reported from Leicester, Nottingham, Southampton, Derby, East Ham, Richmond, and fourteen other places.  In three of them—­East Ham, Leicester, and Liverpool—­there is a clear case against him, and he has actually been arrested.  The country seems to be full of the fugitives with yellow coats.”