er that
question. Plainly he was weighing the effect of his answer.

Then he said: "No."

Mr. Flexen's instinct assured him that Colonel Grey had lied just as Lady
Loudwater had lied.

"Are you sure that nothing in the nature of a snore came to your ears as
you came out? Did you hear any sound from the room? You can see how
important it is to fix as near as we possibly can the hour of Lord
Loudwater's death," he said earnestly.

"No, I heard nothing," said Colonel Grey firmly.

"Bother!" said Mr. Flexen. "It's very important. Possibly I shall be able
to find out from some one else."

"I hope you will," said Grey politely.

Mr. Flexen bade him good-night cordially enough, and drove back to the
Castle in a considerable perplexity. Both Colonel Grey and Lady Loudwater
were behaving in an uncommonly odd, not to say suspicious manner.

He was quite sure that both of them had lied about the dead man's
snoring. But it was plain that either had lied with a different object.
Lady Loudwater had lied to make it appear that her husband had been alive
at midnight. Colonel Grey had lied to make it appear that he was dead at
a quarter-past eleven. But Mr. Flexen was sure that Colonel Grey had
heard Lord Loudwater snore and that Lady Loudwater had not.

What did they know? What had they done? Or what had one of them done?

CHAPTER IX

When Mr. Flexen reached the Castle Wilkins took him to a bedroom in the
west wing. He found that his portmanteau had arrived, had been unpacked,
and that his dress clothes were laid out ready for him on the bed.

As he dressed he cudgelled his brains for the reason why Lady
Loudwater and Colonel Grey had lied. Then an idea came to him: were
they lying to shield the unknown woman with whom Lord Loudwater had
had that violent quarrel? The longer he considered this hypothesis the
more possible it grew.

He must find that unknown woman, and at once. Possibly Mr. Carrington, as
Lord Loudwater's legal adviser, would be able to put him on her track.

He came to dinner, still perplexed, to find Mr. Manley waiting to
bear him company. They talked for a while about public affairs and
the weather.

Then Mr. Flexen said: "Was Lord Loudwater the kind of man to confide in
his lawyers?"

"Not if he could help it," said Mr. Manley with conviction.

Mr. Flexen hoped that Lord Loudwater had not been able to help confiding
in his lawyers about this unknown woman.

Then he said: "By the way, do