Chapter 24
THE THINGI deserve no credit for the solution of the Ella's mystery. I
have a certain quality of force, perhaps, and I am not lacking in
physical courage; but I have no finesse of intellect. McWhirter, a
foot shorter than I, round of face, jovial and stocky, has as much
subtlety in his little finger as I have in my six feet and a
fraction of body.
All the way to the river, therefore, he was poring over the
drawing. He named the paper at once.
"Ought to know it," he said, in reply to my surprise. "Sold
enough paper at the drugstore to qualify as a stationery engineer."
He writhed as was his habit over his jokes, and then fell to work
at the drawing again. "A book," he said, "and an axe, and a gibbet
or gallows. B-a-g—that makes 'bag.' Doesn't go far, does it?
Humoro
