In the drawing-room we found the body
of the Princess Zichy, her arms thrown out, and the blood from her
heart frozen in a tiny line across her bare shoulder. But neither of us,
although we searched the floor on our hands and knees, could find the
weapon which had killed her.

[Illustration: We found the body of the Princess Zichy]

"'For Arthur's sake,' I said, 'I would have given a thousand pounds if
we had found the knife in her hand, as he said we would.'

"'That we have not found it there,' Lyle answered, 'is to my mind the
strongest proof that he is telling the truth, that he left the house
before the murder took place. He is not a fool, and had he stabbed his
brother and this woman, he would have seen that by placing the knife
near her he could help to make it appear as if she had killed Chetney
and then committed suicide. Besides, Lord Arthur insisted that the
evidence in his behalf would be our finding the knife here. He would not
have urged that if he knew we would _not_ find it, if he knew he himself
had carried it away. This is no suicide. A suicide does not rise and
hide the weapon with which he kills himself, and then lie down again.
No, this has been a double murder, and we must look outside of the house
for the murderer.'

"While he was speaking Lyle and I had been searching every corner,
studying the details of each room. I was so afraid that, without telling
me, he would make some deductions prejudicial to Arthur, that I never
left his side. I was determined to see everything that he saw, and, if
possible, to prevent his interpreting it in the wrong way. He finally
finished his examination, and we sat down together in the drawing-room,
and he took out his notebook and read aloud all that Mr. Sears had told
him of the murder and what we had just learned from Arthur. We compared
the two accounts word for word, and weighed statement with statement,
but I could not determine from anything Lyle said which of the two
versions he had decided to believe.

"'We are trying to build a house of blocks,' he exclaimed, 'with half of
the blocks missing. We have been considering two theories,' he went on:
'one that Lord Arthur is responsible for both murders, and the other
that the dead woman in there is responsible for one of them, and has
committed suicide; but, until the Russian servant is ready to talk, I
shall refuse to believe in the guilt of either.'

"'What can you prove by him!' I asked. 'He was drunk a