He is a man who
might be attractive to a woman. He admits that the dead man was
jealous, and maybe he knew best himself what cause he had for
jealousy. Then there's that wedding ring. You can't get past
that. The man who tears a wedding ring off a dead man's--What do
you say to it, Mr. Holmes?"
My friend had sat with his head upon his hands, sunk in the
deepest thought. Now he rose and rang the bell. "Ames," he
said, when the butler entered, "where is Mr. Cecil Barker now?"
"I'll see, sir."
He came back in a moment to say that Barker was in the garden.
"Can you remember, Ames, what Mr. Barker had on his feet last
night when you joined him in the study?"
"Yes, Mr. Holmes. He had a pair of bedroom slippers. I brought
him his boots when he went for the police."
"Where are the slippers now?"
"They are still under the chair in the hall."
"Very good, Ames. It is, of course, important for us to know
which tracks may be Mr. Barker's and which from outside."
"Yes, sir. I may say that I noticed that the slippers were
stained with blood--so indeed were my own."
"That is natural enough, considering the condition of the room.
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