For one thing, he would certainly throw out an arm--to clutch at anything.

That's what Varner most probably saw.

There's no evidence whatever that the man was flung down." Bryce turned away from the group of talkers to think over Archdale's suggestion.

If that suggestion had a basis of fact, it destroyed his own theory that Ransford was responsible for the stranger's death.

In that case, what was the reason of Ransford's unmistakable agitation on leaving the west porch, and of his attack--equally unmistakable--of nerves in the surgery?
But what Archdale had said made him inquisitive, and after he had treated himself--in celebration of his freedom--to an unusually good lunch at the Club, he went round to the Cathedral to make a personal inspection of the gallery in the clerestory.
There was a stairway to that gallery in the corner of the south transept, and Bryce made straight for it--only to find a policeman there, who pointed to a placard on the turret door.