do you account for it?"

The man looked up from his task and shook his head.

"Can't account for it, sir. Unless so be as there is someone inside."

"Can you open it?"

"Yes, sir. I'll have it turned in a minute."

He took from his bag a long pair of hollow pliers which he inserted in
the lock and then screwed tightly, clutching the end of the key. Then
fitting a transverse rod to the pliers and using it as a lever he
carefully forced the key round, and so shot back the lock.

There was a short pause while the man unscrewed his instrument; then he
stepped back and pushed open the door.

Morriston went in quickly. "There is the key, sure enough," he said,
looking round at the inside of the door. He took a couple of steps
farther into the room, only to utter an exclamation of intense surprise
and horror; then turned quickly with an almost scared face.

"Go back!" he cried hoarsely, holding up his hands with an arresting
gesture. "Kelson, Mr. Gifford, come here a moment and shut the door.
Look!" he said in a breathless whisper, pointing to the floor beneath the
window through which the deep orange light of the declining sun was
streaming.

An exclamation came from Kelson as he saw the object which Morriston
indicated, and he turned with a stupefied look to Gifford. "My--!"

Gifford's teeth were set and he fell a step backward as though in
repulsion. On the floor between the window and an old oak table which had
practically hidden it from the doorway, lay the body of a man in evening
clothes, one side of his shirt-front stained a dark colour. Although the
face lay in the shadow of the high window-sill, there was no mistaking
the man's identity.

"Henshaw!" Kelson gasped.

CHAPTER VI

THE MYSTERY OF CLEMENT HENSHAW

It was the missing man, Henshaw, sure enough. The swarthy hue of his face
had in death turned almost to black, but the features, together with the
man's big, muscular figure were unmistakable. For some moments the three
men stood looking at the body in something like bewilderment, scarcely
realizing that so terrible a tragedy had been enacted in that place, amid
those surroundings.

"Suicide?" Kelson was the first to break the silence.

"Must have been," Morriston responded "or how could the door have been
locked from the inside. I will send at once for the police, and we must
have a doctor, although that is obviously useless." He went to the door,
then turned. "Will you stay here or-