Otherwise Anthony saw three things-two pictures on the wall and a little box in the corner.

He went about his work very calmly, for here, he knew, was the only light upon the past of John Bard, that past which had lain passive so long and overwhelmed him on this night.
First he took up the box, as being by far the most promising of the three to give him what he wished to know; the name of the slayer, the place where he could be found, and the cause of the slaying.

It held only two things; a piece of dirty silk and a small oil can; but the oil can and the black smears on the silk made him look closer, closer until the meaning struck him in a flare, as the glow of a lighted match suddenly illumines, even if faintly, an entire room.
In that box the revolver had lain, and here every day through all the year, John Bard retired to clean and oil his gun, oil and reclean it, keeping it ready for the crisis.

That was why he went to the secret room as soon as he heard the call from the garden, and carrying that gun with him he had walked out, prepared.

The time had come for which he had waited a quarter of a century, knowing all that time that the day must arrive.