CHAPTER XXVI

THE ASTOUNDING TRUTH (_Monday, December 13; 11 p. m._) “As you know, Markham,” Vance began, when we were seated about the library fire late that night, “I finally succeeded in putting together the items of my summary in such a way that I could see plainly who the murderer was.[30] Once I had found the basic pattern, every detail fitted perfectly into a plastic whole. The technic of the crimes, however, remained obscure; so I asked you to send for the books in Tobias’s library—I was sure they woul…