The train had come a long journey and the afternoon was wearing on. The passenger in the last third class compartment but one, looking out of the window sombrely and intently, saw nothing now but deso...

The procurator fiscal breakfasted at 8:30, punctually, and at 8:30 as usual he entered his severely upholstered dining-room and shut the door behind him. The windows looked into a spacious garden with...

At 9:45 precisely Mr. Rattar arrived at his office, just as he had arrived every morning since his clerks could remember. He nodded curtly as usual to his head clerk, Mr. Ison, and went into his room....

Mr. Rattar’s second visitor was of a different type. Mr. Cromarty of Stanesland stood about six feet two and had nothing artistic in his appearance, being a lean strapping man in the neighbourhood of ...

Miss Cicely Farmond’s air as she entered Simon Rattar’s room seemed compounded of a little shyness, considerable trepidation, and yet more determination. In her low voice and with a fleeting smile she...

When Simon Rattar came to his present villa, he brought from his old house in the middle of the town (which had been his father’s before him) a vast accumulation of old books and old papers. Being a m...

Under the grey autumnal sky Miss Cicely Farmond drove out of the town wrapped in Ned Cromarty’s overcoat. He assured her he never felt cold, and as she glanced a little shyly up at the strapping figur...

Cicely Farmond and Malcolm Cromarty walked up the avenue together, he pushing his bicycle, she walking by his side with a more than usually serious expression. “Then you won’t tell me where you’ve bee...

During luncheon an exceedingly efficient person had been moving briskly behind the chairs. His face was so expressionless, his mouth so tightly closed, and his air of concentration on the business in ...

It was a few days later that Cicely looked up from the local paper she was reading and asked: “Who was George Rattar?” Sir Reginald laid down his book and looked at her in some surprise. “George Ratta...

Even in that scattered countryside of long distances by windy roads, with scarcely ever a village as a focus for gossip, news flew fast. The next morning Ned Cromarty had set out with his gun towards ...

Ned Cromarty waited in the hall while Bisset went to the door with the Procurator Fiscal and Superintendent of Police. As he stood there in the darkened silence of the house, there came to his ears fo...

Bisset laid on the table a sheet of note paper. “Here,” said he, “is a kin’ of bit sketch plan of the library. Observing this plan attentively, you will notice two crosses, marked A and B. A is where ...

Two days later Mr. Ison entered Mr. Simon Rattar’s room and informed him that Mr. Cromarty of Stanesland wished to see him on particular business. The lawyer was busy and this interruption seemed for ...

On the day after the funeral Lady Cromarty for the first time felt able to see the family lawyer. Simon Rattar came out in the morning in a hired car and spent more than a couple of hours with her. Th...

One windy afternoon a man on a bicycle struggled up to the door of Stanesland Castle and while waiting for an answer to his ring, studied the front of that ancient building with an expression which wo...

Next morning Simon Rattar was again informed that Mr. Cromarty of Stanesland wished to see him, and again the announcement seemed to be unwelcome. He was silent for several seconds before answering, a...

Ned Cromarty had returned home and was going upstairs, when he heard a voice cry: “Ned!” The ancient stone stair, spiralling up round the timeworn pillar that seemed to have no beginning or end, gave ...

It was on this same evening that Superintendent Sutherland was almost rewarded for his vigilance by having something distinctly suspicious to report. As it happened, it proved a disappointing incident...

In summer and autumn, visitors were not uncommon in this remote countryside; mostly shooting or fishing people who rented the country houses, raised the local prices, and were described by the tradesm...

Mr. Carrington’s easy saunter lasted till he had turned out of the street on which the Kings Arms stood, when it passed into an easy walk. Though he had seemed, on the whole, disinclined to go in the ...

The card handed in to Mr. Simon Rattar contained merely the name “Mr. F. T. Carrington” and the address “Sports Club.” Simon gazed at it cautiously and in silence for the better part of a minute, and ...

“Well,” said Mr. Rattar deliberately, “I think myself that the actual evidence is very slight and extremely inclusive.” “You mean the direct evidence afforded by the unfastened window, position of the...

At eleven o’clock next morning a motor car drove up to Keldale House and an exceedingly affable and pleasing stranger delivered a note from Mr. Simon Rattar to Mr. James Bisset. Even without an introd...

The car took Mr. Carrington straight back to the town and dropped him at the door of Mr. Rattar’s office. “I shall want you again at two o’clock sharp,” he said to the chauffeur, and turned in to the ...

Mr. Carrington’s interview with the laird of Stanesland began on much the same lines as his talk with Bisset. The amiable visitor was shown into the laird’s smoking room⁠—an apartment with vast walls ...

On the morning after his visit from Mr. Carrington, Ned Cromarty took his keeper with him and drove over to shoot on a friend’s estate. He stayed for tea and it was well after five o’clock and quite d...

His friends would scarcely have picked out Mr. Ned Cromarty of Stanesland as likely to make a distinguished actor, but they might have changed their opinion had they heard him breezily announce himsel...

Ned Cromarty found his sister in her room. “Well, Ned,” she asked, “where on earth have you been?” He shut the door before he answered, and then came up to the fireplace, and planted himself in front ...

The unexpected energy displayed by her charming guest in bustling all over the country had surprised and a little perplexed Miss Peterkin, but she now decided that it was only a passing phase, for on ...

On the morning after Sir Malcolm’s fleeting visit to the Kings Arms, the manageress was informed by her friend Mr. Carrington that he would like a car immediately after breakfast. “I really must be a ...

Carrington’s soliloquy was interrupted by the appearance of someone on the pavement ahead of him. He pulled himself together, took out his watch, and saw that it was still only twenty minutes past twe...

The sympathetic stranger almost laid down his pen, he was so interested by this unexpected reply. “What!” he exclaimed. “Really a burglary in this house? I say, how awfully interesting! When did it ha...

The laird of Stanesland strode into the Kings Arms and demanded: “Mr. Carrington? What, having a cup of tea in his room? What’s his number? Twenty-seven⁠—right! I’ll walk right up, thanks.” He walked ...

It was a few minutes after half past eight when Miss Peterkin chanced to meet her friend Mr. Carrington in the entrance hall of the Kings Arms. He was evidently going out, and she noticed he was rathe...

Had there been, next morning, any curious eyes to watch the conduct of the gentleman who had come to rent a sporting estate, they would probably have surmised that he had found something to please his...

The short November afternoon was fading into a gusty evening, as Ned Cromarty drew near his fortalice. He carried a gun as usual, and as usual walked with seven league strides. Where the drive passed ...

Cromarty and Carrington slipped unostentatiously out of the hotel a few minutes after eight o’clock. “Take any line you like,” said Carrington, “but as he knows now that you brought Miss Farmond back ...

“I needn’t trouble you with my adventures before I came down here to visit brother Simon,” began the prisoner, “for you know them well enough. It was about a month ago when I turned up at this house o...

On their way down to the hotel Ned Cromarty only spoke once, and that was to exclaim: “If I’d only known when I had him alone! Why didn’t you tell me more before I went in?” “For your own sake,” said ...