after eleven and heard noises in the hall. Suppose you tell us just what happened."
"Nothing happened!" Rex blurted. "I went to bed at half past ten, but I was too nervous to sleep. Then, some time later, the moon came out and fell across the foot of the bed; and I got up and pulled down the shade. About ten minutes later I heard a scraping sound in the hall, and directly afterward a door closed softly"
"Just a moment, Mr. Greene," interrupted Vance. "Can you be a little more definite about that noise? What did it sound like?"
"I didn't pay any attention to it," was the whining reply. "It might have been almost anything. It was like some one laying down a bundle, or dragging something across the floor; or it might have been old Sproot in his bedroom slippers, though it didn't sound like him—that is, I didn't associate him with the sound when I heard it."
"And after that?"
"After that? I lay awake in bed ten or fifteen minutes longer. I was restless and—and expectant; so I turned on the lights to see what time it was, and smoked half a cigarette"
"It was twenty-five minutes past eleven, I understand."
"That's right. Then a few minutes later I put out the light, and must have gone right to sleep."
There was a pause, and Heath drew himself up aggressively.
"Say, Greene: know anything about fire-arms?" He shot the question out brutally.
Rex stiffened. His lips sagged open, and his cig-
