He seemed in a great hurry, said Miss Ogden had telephoned him, and asked me to drive him over." "Why did you come up to the house ?" "We-el," said Beresford with seeming candor, "I thought it was putting rather a premium on friendship to keep me sitting out in the rain all night, so I came up the drive--and, by the way!" He snapped his fingers irritatedly, as if recalling some significant incident that had slipped his memory, and drew a battered object from his pocket.

"I picked this up, about a hundred feet from the house," he explained.

"A man's watch.

It was partly crushed into the ground, and, as you see, it's stopped running." The detective took the object and examined it carefully.

A man's open-face gold watch, crushed and battered in as if it had been trampled upon by a heavy heel.
"Yes," he said thoughtfully.