nished. In all
the extraordinary cases that have ever come under my notice, I never
recollect anything so amazing as this."

It was amazing, stupendous--so much so, that nobody spoke for a little
time. Beatrice had taken a seat and sat waiting for somebody to ask
questions. She was no longer dazed and frightened; her brain was working
rapidly. It seemed to her that she would be able to throw a light on
this mysterious disappearance presently.

"Are you quite sure that the seals are intact?" Mark asked.

"If you had asked me that question half an hour ago, I should have said
most assuredly so, sir," Field replied. "I looked carefully to see. We
always do. How on earth a body could have been spirited away like this
with people about till late, to say nothing of the night watchman going
his rounds, and the night porter down below--but we need not go into
that yet. My seals appeared to be in perfect order."

"But that really could not have been the fact," Mark persisted. "I fancy
we can dispense with the idea that Sir Charles was removed by spiritual
agency. Now, would it not have been possible for anyone to have taken an
impression of the seals?"

"Just possible," Field admitted. "But what would have been the use
of----"

"A great deal of use, it seems to me," Mark went on. "But I will come to
that presently. Let us take one thing at a time. For some reason or
other, those scoundrels have found it imperatively necessary to spirit
away the body of Sir Charles. Perhaps they are afraid of the result of a
_post-mortem_. That is another point we need not bother about for the
present. Did you give any orders to the watchman here to keep an eye on
that door?"

"Well, I did," Field admitted. "I particularly mentioned the seals, in
case any very zealous housemaid, imagining that somebody had been
disfiguring the doors, should remove them."

"Then if the seals had been broken, the night watchman would have
noticed it?"

"I should say that such a thing was highly possible," Field admitted
with an admiring glance in the direction of his questioner. "Really,
sir, you would make an admirable detective. You mean that the scoundrels
might require some little time in the next room and that any
interruption----"

"Precisely," Mark proceeded. "Let us admit, for the sake of argument,
that these men were staying in the hotel last night. Where so many
people come and go, they would not be noticed, and, on the whole, that
plan woul