On reaching the house, Boyd, an expert officer who had spent years in
the investigation of crime, ascended with his subordinate to the
drawing-room, while we remained on the ground floor to complete our
search, the sergeant being stationed inside the hall.
Our further investigations were not very fruitful. The fact that dinner
was laid for three indicated that a third person had been present, or
was expected. The room did not differ from any other, except that it
was perhaps better furnished than one would have expected in such a
house, for although in a first-class and rather expensive neighbourhood
the row of houses had declined in popularity of late years, and was now
inhabited mostly by the lodging-house fraternity.
In moving about the room, however, my coat caught the plate laid for the
person who was to occupy the head of the table, and it was nearly swept
off. I saved it, however, but beneath was revealed a plain white card
which, until that moment, had been concealed. Patterson caught sight of
it at the same moment, and taking it in my hand I examined it, finding
that it was a plain visiting card of lady's size, one side being blank,
and other bearing a roughly-drawn circle in ink.
There was nothing else.
"That's certainly curious," my companion remarked, looking over my
shoulder.
"Yes," I said, lifting a second plate to see what was there concealed,
and finding another card, in all appearances similar, plain, but bearing
across its reverse a single straight line drawn with a pen.
"By Jove!" observed Patterson, lifting the other plate, and finding a
third card, "this is certainly very strange."
He turned the card over, but it was blank on both sides.
"I wonder what game is this, or whether these have any connexion with
the crime?" I exclaimed, holding all three of the cards in my hand,
turning them over and examining them carefully beneath the light. "By
the ink they have the appearance of having been prepared long ago.
See!" I added, holding one of them towards him, "the corners of this
one are slightly turned up and soiled. It has been carried in some
one's pocket, and is not a fresh card."
Again Patterson took it and examined it. It was the one with the line
drawn across it. The others were quite clean, as if just taken fresh
from a packet.
"There's some mystery about these," he said reflectively, as though
speaking to himself. "If we could but solve it we should likewise solve
the problem of the crime, depend upon it."
"No doubt," I assented. "Each of them have some meaning, occult but
extraordinary. They were turned face downwards so that the accidental
removal of the plate would not reveal the device upon them."
"The devices are simple enough, but undoubtedly they have some hidden
meaning," my friend said.
"They were evidently concealed there, and the three persons,
unsuspecting, were to discover them when the first plates were removed,"
I suggested.