To S. H. J. Cox because for once he did not guess it...

Roger Sheringham took a sip of the old brandy in front of him and leaned back in his chair at the head of the table. Through the haze of cigarette-smoke eager voices reached his ears from all directio...

Chief Inspector Moresby, having stood up and blushingly received his tribute of handclaps, was invited to address the gathering from his chair and thankfully retired into that shelter. Consulting the ...

Having reached this stage in his narrative Moresby paused, for effect, breath and refreshment. So far, in spite of the eager interest with which the story had been followed, no fact had been brought o...

The Circle sat on for some time after Moresby had gone. There was a lot to discuss, and everybody had views to put forward, suggestions to make, and theories to advance. One thing emerged with singula...

Sir Charles Wildman, as he had said, cared more for honest facts than for psychological fiddle-faddle. Facts were very dear to Sir Charles. More, they were meat and drink to him. His income of roughly...

“I dare say,” resumed Sir Charles, “that many of you will have already reached the same conclusion as myself, with regard to the identity of the murderer. The case seems to me to afford so striking a ...

Mrs. Fielder-Flemming was nervous. Actually nervous. She shuffled the pages of her notebook aimlessly, and seemed hardly able to sit through the few preliminaries which had to be settled before Roger ...

Sir Charles took the usual advantage of the first interval to rise from his seat. Like so many of us in these days by the time of the first interval (when it is not a play of Mrs. Fielder-Flemming’s t...

Roger sat on the table in Moresby’s room at Scotland Yard and swung his legs moodily. Moresby was being no help at all. “I’ve told you, Mr. Sheringham,” said the Chief Inspector, with a patient air. “...

The President called on Mr. Bradley to hold forth. Mr. Bradley stroked his moustache and mentally shot his cuffs. He had begun his career (when still Percy Robinson) as a motor-salesman, and had disco...

“I have always thought,” resumed Mr. Bradley, restored, “I have always thought that murders may be divided into two classes, closed or open. By a closed murder I mean one committed in a certain closed...

Roger was very busy. Flitting in taxis hither and thither, utterly regardless of what the clocks had to tell him, he was trying to get his case completed before the evening. His activities might have ...

Roger called on himself. “Ladies and gentlemen, as the one responsible for this experiment, I think I can congratulate myself. The three members who have spoken so far have shown an ingenuity of obser...

When the excitement that greeted this revolutionary reading of the case had died down, Roger went on to defend his theory in more detail. “It is something of a shock, of course, to find oneself contem...

Roger arrived at the Circle’s meeting-room the next evening even more agog than usual. In his heart of hearts he could not believe that Miss Dammers would ever be able to destroy his case against Bend...

“From the very beginning of this case,” Miss Dammers proceeded, imperturbable as ever, “I was of the opinion that the greatest clue the criminal had left us was one of which he would have been totally...

It was quite evident that, as he had said, Mr. Chitterwick did not want to speak. He looked appealingly round the circle of faces the next evening when Roger asked him to do so, but the faces remained...

Mr. Chitterwick consulted a page of his notes. For a moment he looked a little distressed. “Sir Charles,” he began. “Er⁠—Sir Charles⁠ ⁠…” It was plain that Mr. Chitterwick was finding difficulty in di...