certainly is a little out of the ordinary. That car, Wigan, the tramp who
saw it, the stoppages it made, the handkerchief in it--does anything
strike you?"

"Since we picked up the trail so easily to begin with, I do not quite
understand the subsequent difficulty," I said. "From Hounslow a much more
astute person must have taken charge of the enterprise."

"A booby trap, Wigan. It was prepared for us, and we walked into it, I am
a trifle sick at having done so, but perhaps it will serve us a good turn
in the end. The tramp no doubt was in the business. His definite
information to the police started us. If that car had wanted to escape
notice, do you suppose it would have pulled up outside Reading, or at a
cottage, where it obligingly left its imprint on the roadside? Why should
the man explain the filling of a flask at a public house? Why should he
talk of a runaway match to the woman at that cottage? He was laying a
trail. Miss Wilkinson's handkerchief was found in that car, but I wager
she was never in the car herself."

"I think you are right, but it doesn't help us to the truth, does it?"

"Every possibility proved impossible helps us," Quarles answered. "This
is a case for negative argument, so we next ask whether Eva Wilkinson
left the terrace willingly. I think we must say 'no.'"

"Do not forget the missing coat and skirt," I said.

"That is one of the reasons why I say 'no,'" he returned. "If she had
intended to go away she would have arranged to take more than a coat and
skirt. Besides, Eva Wilkinson is evidently not a fool. The only person