I didn't mention my suspicions because there was no use in raising false hopes and because, well--" "You wanted to be dramatic," I suggested.
"Oh, yes, certainly, that's my business.

Well, anyway I felt I was getting warm, and I came over here this morning with my eyes open, ready to see what there was to see.
"The first thing I unearthed was this story of the church social provisions.

There had, then, been a thief of some sort in the neighborhood just at the time of Colonel Gaylord's murder.

The further theft of the boots fitted very neatly into the theory.

If the fellow had been tramping for a couple of days his shoes, already worn, had given out and been discarded.