"I--well, hang it all, Herrick, I saw the man before he left, and
whatever the cause, or however temporary the effect, I am pretty sure
that the story he told us tonight is not sufficient to account for
the state of nerves he was in then. You saw how touchy he was about
Lessing?"
Herrick nodded.
"Lessing said once that Lennox only cared for things he could stick a
pin into and label."
"And unless I am much mistaken," said Herrick quietly, "it will take
a bolder man than Lennox to label the real truth of this business.
However, Austin, we'll drop that part of it for the moment. There
are one or two points I want to recall to you particularly."
"Well?"
"They are these." He spoke deliberately. "The character of
Menning's mother. She is important. The rather curious isolation in
which the family seem always to have kept themselves. Aaron's sudden
change of mind about having Jakey put under restraint. And ... the
two other details to which Lennox himself seems to attach the least
importance. One is that of the footprints, presumably of a dog--a
large dog--noticed near the spot where Menning's body was found."
"And the other?"
"The other," said Herrick, "I have here in my hand, and to me it
provides the most significant clue in the whole case."
He opened his hand, and I saw lying on the palm the battered silver
button that had been picked up on Dutchman's Hill.