"But," added Trent, cautiously, "it will be difficult to save him in the face of the evidence."

"What is it?"

Inspector Trent detailed all that he had learned from the people of the inn, and from the prisoner himself. Dr. Browne, with his keen blue eyes fastened on the official, listened intently, weighing the evidence in silence. Only when Trent ended, did he speak, and then curtly.

"You have captured the wrong man."

"Indeed," said Trent sarcastically, "perhaps you can tell me the name of the right one."

"Not being omniscient, I cannot. It is for you, Mr. Inspector, to learn the name of the man who passed through the tap-room at eight."

"You accuse him?"

"Of course. He is the assassin, and has implicated Herries by placing in his room, the razor, the key and the pocket-book. This unknown man must have been the one whom Sir Simon expected on the previous night."

"How do you know that?"

"Because, by your own showing, Sir Simon could not have known of his nephew's presence here. The unknown man did not arrive at the time he was expected, but when the inn was closed, he must either have been admitted by Sir Simon, and taken to the bedroom, or he must have got in by the window."

"The window is on the first floor!"

Browne cast a look upward at the low ceiling.

"I don't think an active man would have any difficulty in climbing."

"There is certainly some trellis work outside, against the window of the room Sir Simon occupied," said Trent half to himself, "but this is all theoretical."

"So is the evidence against Herries."

"Do you call a razor, a stained shirt, the dead man's pocket-book and the key of the dead man's room, theoretical?"

"These things were placed in Herries' room by the assassin to implicate him in the crime," said Browne obstinately.

"Why should the unknown man take that trouble?" argued Trent. "He could not have known that my prisoner was the nephew of Sir Simon, and it 

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