"Well, after this fiasco I went into the bedroom and examined
that also. The blood-stains were very slight, mere smears and
discolorations, but undoubtedly fresh. The stick had been removed,
but there also the marks were slight. There is no doubt about
the stick belonging to our client. He admits it. Footmarks of
both men could be made out on the carpet, but none of any third
person, which again is a trick for the other side. They were
piling up their score all the time and we were at a standstill.
"Only one little gleam of hope did I get -- and yet it amounted
to nothing. I examined the contents of the safe, most of which
had been taken out and left on the table. The papers had been
made up into sealed envelopes, one or two of which had been
opened by the police. They were not, so far as I could judge,
of any great value, nor did the bank-book show that Mr. Oldacre
was in such very affluent circumstances. But it seemed to me
that all the papers were not there. There were allusions to
some deeds -- possibly the more valuable -- which I could not
find. This, of course, if we could definitely prove it, would
turn Lestrade's argument against himself, for who would steal
a thing if he knew that he would shortly inherit it?
"Finally, having drawn every other cover and picked up no scent,
I tried my luck with the housekeeper.
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