uest, I knew that Hugh Mainwaring had been shot with a 38-calibre
revolver, in his library, near the centre of the room, and that the
body had afterwards been so arranged in the tower-room as to give
the appearance of his having deliberately shot himself beside his
desk and with his own revolver."

"By George! I believe you're right," said the attorney; "and I
recall now your statement that day, that the shooting had occurred
in the library; I wondered then what reason you had for such an
opinion."

"A small stain on the library carpet and the bullet told me that
much. Another thing, which at first puzzled me, was the marked
absence of blood-stains. There was a small pool of blood underneath
the head, a slight stain on the carpet in the adjoining room, but
none on the clothing or elsewhere. The solution to this I found
on further investigation. The wound had been firmly and skillfully
bandaged by an expert hand, the imprint of the bandage being
plainly visible in the hair on the temples. Here is the proof that
I was correct," and Merrick held up to the attorney's astonished
view the stained and knotted handkerchief. "This, with the private
keys belonging to Mr. Mainwaring's library, was in that box at the
bottom of the lake. Do you consider Mrs. LaGrange or Hobson capable
of planning and carrying out an affair so adroitly as that?"

"You've got me floored," the attorney answered, gazing at the proofs
before him. "Hobson I know nothing about; but that woman I believe
could scheme to beat the very devil himself; and yet, Merrick, when
you think of it, it must have taken time--considerable time--to
plan a thing like that."

"Or else," Merrick suggested, "it was the performance of an expert
criminal; no bungling, no work of a green hand."

Mr. Whitney started slightly, but the detective continued. "Another
point: Hobson, as you say, was the one man whom Hugh Mainwaring
feared and who evidently had some hold upon him; would he then have
dared denounce him as a liar and an impostor? Would not his use of
such terms imply that he was addressing one whom he considered a
stranger and unacquainted with the facts in the case?"

"I see," the attorney replied quickly; "you have in mind Hobson's
accomplice, the tall man with dark glasses."

Merrick smiled. "You are then inclined to the opinion that J. Henry
Carruthers, who called in the afternoon, is identical with the
so-called Jack Carroll who accompanied Hobson