See, her lair is deserted."
He broke the stalk of mullen and the cables of spider silk that led
away from it, and all inspected the empty lair. Then he told of
that deadly battle in the grass.
"But these webs might have been the work of another spider," said
the attorney.
"It matters not," Trove insisted, "for the webs were spun at least
twelve hours before the crime. One of them contains the body of a
red butterfly with starred wings. We cut the wings that day, and
Miss Vaughn put them in a book she was reading."
Paul brought the wings, which exactly fitted the tiny torso of the
butterfly. They could discern the footprints, one of which had
broken the ant's road, while another was completely covered by the
butterfly snare.
"Those tracks were made before the webs--that is evident," said the
attorney. "Do you know who made the tracks?"
"I do not," was the answer of the young man.
Trove remained at Robin's Inn that night, and after the men had
gone he recalled a circumstance that was like a flash of lightning
in the dark of his great mystery.
Once at the Sign of the Dial his friend, the tinker, had shown him
a pair of new boots. He remembered they were of the same size and
shape as those he wore.
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