He was aware that the bicycle would be described by the hotel people and be a clue against him; so he left it there and made his way by some other means to London or to some safe hiding place which he had already arranged.

How is that, Mr.Holmes ?" "Well, Mr.Mac, it is very good and very clear so far as it goes.

That is your end of the story.

My end is that the crime was committed half an hour earlier than reported; that Mrs.Douglas and Barker are both in a conspiracy to conceal something; that they aided the murderer's escape--or at least that they reached the room before he escaped--and that they fabricated evidence of his escape through the window, whereas in all probability they had themselves let him go by lowering the bridge.

That's my reading of the first half." The two detectives shook their heads.
"Well, Mr.Holmes, if this is true, we only tumble out of one mystery into another," said the London inspector.
"And in some ways a worse one," added White Mason.