show whether it was
self-inflicted or not.

But in this he failed. The jury, muddle-headed, obstinate country folk,
had made up their minds that Lord Loudwater was the kind of man to be
murdered, and that, therefore, he had been murdered. They brought in
the verdict that Lord Loudwater had been murdered by some person or
persons unknown.

Mr. Flexen, Mr. Carrington and the Coroner were annoyed, but they had had
too wide an experience of juries to be surprised.

"This will let loose a horde of reporters on us," said Mr. Carrington
very gloomily.

"It will," said Mr. Flexen. "The pet sleuths of the _Wire_ and the
_Planet_ will leave London in about an hour."

"Well, they'll have to be dealt with," said Mr. Carrington.

"Oh, they're all right. I probably know them. I'll get them to work with
me. They must be treated very nicely," said Mr. Flexen cheerfully.

"They're always a confounded nuisance," said Mr. Carrington, frowning.

"Not if they're kindly treated. Indeed, I shall very likely find them
really useful," said Mr. Flexen. "But you might give the servants a
hint to be careful of what they say. The hint will come best from you,
and be much more effective than if it came from any one else. You
represent the family."

"I'll see about it," said Mr. Carrington, and he went to Olivia's boudoir
to confer with her about the invitations to the funeral.

Mr. Flexen was, indeed, little disturbed by the prospect of the coming of
the newspaper men. A popular member of the chief literary and
journalistic club in London, he would probably know them, or they would
know of him; and he would find them ready enough to work with him.
Besides, even if they discovered that the quarrel between Colonel Grey
and Lord Loudwater had its origin in Lady Loudwater, in the present state
of mind of the country, they would have to move very cautiously indeed in
the case of a V.C.

He did not, indeed, think it likely that they would discover the cause of
the quarrel for some time--possibly not before their papers had tired of
the business and sent them on other errands. Mrs. Turnbull only knew of
Lord Loudwater's threat to hound Colonel Grey out of the Army; she did
not know the reason of his fury and his threat. Elizabeth Twitcher would
certainly hold her tongue about Lord Loudwater's subsequent quarrel with
Lady Loudwater, and his accusations and threats; Mrs. Carruthers was even
more unlikely to tell of it. It was unlikely that Willi