o them.

"Mannering is not at home," he said. "If he had gone to bed, these would
not be here."

"I hope he will not return while we are about," I muttered.

"It would be a little awkward for him," said Forrest, calmly. "I should
be compelled to arrest him in self-defence, and I am not prepared to do
so at present."

He did not, however, hurry his movements in any way as he proceeded to
deliberately search the room. Only once did he pause, and that was when
he discovered a continental time-table of recent date. He brought the
book to the light and turned over the pages carefully. A gleam of
exultation crossed his face, as he pointed out to me a trace of tobacco
ash between the pages which gave details of the train service between
Vienna and Amsterdam.

"We are on the right track," he observed.

But that one slight piece of evidence was all that the most careful
examination of the room revealed, although there was not a drawer nor a
shelf which he did not overhaul.

"We must try his bedroom," he remarked, when he had finished with the
sitting-room.

"What about the servants?" I asked.

"If they are not asleep, they will merely imagine that it is their
master going to bed," he replied, as taking a candlestick, which stood
on an occasional table near the door, he passed out of the room. I
followed him upstairs, with my heart in my mouth, and pointed out to him
the door of the room which Mannering occupied. As Forrest turned the
handle and entered, I was quite prepared to make a bolt for it. I should
not have been a bit surprised to have discovered our suspect sleeping
quietly within. But Forrest turned and beckoned me to enter. The room
was empty, and this time I assisted the detective in his search.
Between us we subjected the bedroom and the adjoining dressing-room to
the closest scrutiny, but without result. We could not, unfortunately,
make an exhaustive examination, for there were one or two ancient
presses which were locked, and the Chubb safe let into the wall by the
bed head was likewise fastened.

The detective shrugged his shoulders when we had done.

"As we haven't a burglar's outfit, we shall have to wait until we have a
search warrant," he muttered.

With a disappointed air he led the way out of the room. On the landing
he paused. His keen gaze had rested for a moment on a travelling bag
which stood under a table. There were the remains of a number of labels
upon it and he scanned them carefull