I was wakened the next morning by Terry clumping¹ into my room dressed in riding breeches and boots freshly spattered with mud.  
They were Radnor's clothes—Terry had taken me at my word and was thoroughly² at home.
 
"Hello, old man!" he said, sitting down on the edge of the bed. "Been asleep, haven't you? Sorry to wake you, but we've got a day's work ahead. Hope you don't mind my borrowing Radnor's togs. Didn't come down prepared for riding. Solomon gave 'em to me—seemed to think that Radnor wouldn't need 'em any more. Oh, Solomon and I are great friends!" he added with a laugh, as he suddenly appeared to remember the object of his visit and commenced a search through his pockets.
 
 
I sat up in bed and watched him impatiently. It was evident that he had some news, and equally evident that he was going to be as leisurely³ as possible about imparting it.
 
"This is a pretty country," he remarked as he finished with his coat pockets and commenced on the waistcoat. "It would be almost worth living in if many little affairs like this occurred to keep things going."
 
"Really, Terry," I said, "when you refer to my uncle's murder as a 'little affair' I think you're going too far!"
 
"Oh, I beg your pardon," he returned good-naturedly, "I guess I am incorrigible⁴. I didn't know Colonel Gaylord personally, you see, and I'm so used to murders that I've come to think it's the only natural way of dying. Anyhow," he added, as he finally produced a yellow envelope, "I've got something here that will interest you. It explains why our young friend Radnor didn't want to talk."
 
He tossed the envelope on the bed and I eagerly tore out the telegram. It was from the police commissioner⁵ in Seattle and it ran:
 
 
"Jefferson Gaylord returned Seattle May fifth after absence six weeks. Said to have visited old home Virginia. Had been wanted by police. Suspected implication in case obtaining money false pretences⁶. Mistaken charge. Case dismissed."
 
"What does it mean?" I asked.
 
"It means," said Terry, "that we've spotted⁷ ghost number one. It was clear from the first that Radnor was trying to shield someone, even at the expense of his own reputation. Leaving women out of the case, that pointed⁸ pretty straight toward his elder brother. Part of your theory was correct, the only trouble being that you carried it too far. You made Jeff commit both the robbery and the murder, while as a matter of fact he did neither. Then when you found a part of your theory was untenable you rejected the whole of it.
 
"This is how the matter stood: Jeff Gaylord was pretty desperately⁹ in need of money. I suspect that the charge against him, whatever it was, was true. The money he had taken had to be returned and somebody's silence bought before the thing could be hushed up. Anyway, Seattle was too hot to hold him and he lit out and came East. He applied¹² to Radnor, but Radnor was in a tight place himself and couldn't lay his hands on anything except what his father had given him for a birthday present. That was tied up in another investment and if he converted it into cash it would be at a sacrifice. So it ran along for a week or so, while Rad was casting about for a means of getting his brother out of the way without any fresh scandal. But Mose's suddenly taking to seeing ha'nts precipitated¹³ matters. Realizing that his father's patience had reached its limit, and that he couldn't keep you off the scent¹⁴ much longer, he determined¹⁵ to borrow the money for Jeff's journey back to Seattle, and to close up his own investment.
 
"That same night he drove Jeff to the station at Kennisburg. The Washington express does not stop at Lambert Junction¹⁶, and anyway Kennisburg is a bigger station and travellers excite less comment. This isn't deduction¹⁷; it's fact. I rode to Kennisburg this morning and proved it. The station man remembers selling Radnor Gaylord a ticket to Washington in the middle of the night about three weeks ago. Some man who waited outside and whose face the agent did not see, boarded the train, and Rad drove off alone. The ticket seller does not know Rad personally but he knows him by sight—so much for that. Rad came home and went to bed. When he came down stairs in the morning he was met by the information that the ha'nt had robbed the safe. You can see what instantly jumped int............