Had it caught on any projection in doorway or furniture?
He saw none.

All the chairs were cushioned and--But wait! there was the cross! That had a fretwork of gold at its base.

Might not this filagree have caught in her dress as she was tearing down the cross from the wall and so have started the thread which had given him this exquisite clew?
Hastening to the spot where the cross had hung, he searched the floor at his feet, but found nothing to confirm his conjecture until he had reached the rug on which the prostrate man lay.

There, amid the long hairs of the bearskin, he came upon one other spangle, and knew that the woman in the shiny clothes had stooped there before him.
Satisfied on this point, he returned to the table, and this time subjected it to a thorough and minute examination.

That the result was not entirely unsatisfactory was evident from the smile with which he eyed his finger after having drawn it across a certain spot near the inkstand, and also from the care with which he lifted that inkstand and replaced it in precisely the same spot from which he had taken it up.
Had he expected to find something concealed under it?
Who can tell?
A detective's face seldom yields up its secrets.
He was musing quite intently before this table when a quick step behind him made him turn.