So determined was their denial that the inspector was staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs.St.Clair had been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it.

Out there fell a cascade of children's bricks.

It was the toy which he had promised to bring home.
"This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious.
The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an abominable crime.

The front room was plainly furnished as a sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon the back of one of the wharves.

Between the wharf and the bedroom window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water.