admitted, "appearances certainly do point to that."

"Who was the young lady who met us downstairs?" inquired the detective sergeant, producing a small note-book and pencil.

"Miss Ethelwynn Mivart, sister to Mrs. Courtenay."

"And is Mrs. Courtenay at home?" he inquired, making a note of the name.

"No. We have sent for her. She's staying with friends in London."

"Hulloa! There's an iron safe here!" exclaimed one of the men rummaging at the opposite side of the room. He had pulled away a chest of drawers from the wall, revealing what I had never noticed before, the door of a small fireproof safe built into the wall.

"Is it locked?" inquired the inspector.

The man, after trying the knob and examining the keyhole, replied in the affirmative.

"Keeps his deeds and jewellery there, I suppose," remarked one of the other detectives. "He seems to have been very much afraid of burglars. I wonder whether he had any reason for that?"

"Like many old men he was a trifle eccentric," I replied. "Thieves once broke into his country house years ago, I believe, and he therefore entertained a horror of them."

We all examined the keyhole of the safe, but there was certainly no evidence to show that it had been tampered with. On the contrary, the little oval brass plate which closed the hole was rusty and had not apparently been touched for weeks.

While they were searching in other parts of the room I directed my attention to the position and appearance of my late patient. He was lying on his right side with one arm slightly raised in quite a natural attitude for one sleeping. His features, although the pallor of death was upon them and they were relaxed, showed no sign of suffering. The blow had been unerring, and had no doubt penetrated to the heart. The crime had been committed swiftly, and the murderer had escaped unseen and unheard.

The eider-down quilt, a rich one of Gobelin blue satin, had scarcely been disturbed, and save for the small spot of blood upon the sheet, traces of a terrible crime were in no way apparent.

While, however, I stood at the bedside, at 

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