rtmanteau?"

"I hope to be able to answer both questions before this night is over,
Mr. Narkom. Meantime, let us go and have a look at the body, and settle
one of the little points that bother me."

The superintendent led the way to the siding where the shunted carriage
stood, closely guarded by the police; and, lanterns having been procured
from the lamp-room, Cleek was soon deep in the business of examining the
compartment and its silent occupant.

Aided by the better light, he now perceived something which, in the
first hurried examination, had escaped him, or, if it had not--which is,
perhaps, open to question--he had made no comment upon. It was a spot
about the size of an ordinary dinner plate on the crimson carpet which
covered the floor of the compartment. It was slightly darker than the
rest of the surface, and was at the foot of the corner seat directly
facing the dead man.

"I think we can fairly decide, Mr. Narkom, on the evidence of that,"
said Cleek, pointing to it, "that Lord Stavornell did have a companion
in this compartment, and that it was the little dark man with the small
moustache. Put your hand on the spot. Damp, you see; the effect of some
one who had walked through the snow sitting down with his feet on this
particular seat. Now look here." He passed his handkerchief over the
stain, and held it out for Narkom's inspection. It was slightly browned
by the operation. "Just the amount of dirt the soles of one's boots
would be likely to collect if one came with wet feet along the muddy
platform of the station."

"Yes; but, my dear chap, that might easily have happened--particularly
on such a day as this has been--before Lord Stavornell's arrival. He
can't have been the only person to enter this compartment since
morning."

"Granted. But he is supposed to have been the only person who entered it
after it was swept, Mr. Narkom; and that, as I told you, was done by his
orders immediately before the train started. We've got past the point of
'guesswork' now. We've established the presence of the second party
beyond all question. We also know that he was a person with whom
Stavornell felt at ease, and was intimate enough with to feel no
necessity for putting himself out by entertaining with those little
courtesies one is naturally obliged to show a guest."

"How do you make that out?"

"This newspaper. He was reading at the time he was shot. You can see for
yourself where the bullet went through