o his bankers to pay that cheque
for twelve thousand pounds into your wife's account was forged."

Mr. Manley looked at him blankly for a moment. There was no expression at
all on his face. Then it filled slowly with an expression of surprise.

"Rehearsed, by Jove!" murmured Mr. Flexen under his breath, and he could
not help admiring the skilful management of that expression of surprise.
It was so unhasty and natural.

"My dear fellow, what on earth are you driving at? I saw him write it
myself," said Mr. Manley in an indulgent tone.

"You forged it," snapped Mr. Flexen.

Mr. Manley looked at him with a new surprise which changed slowly to
pity. Then he said in such a tone as one might use to an unreasonable
child: "My good chap, what on earth should I forge it _for?_"

"You knew that he was going to halve Mrs. Truslove's allowance. You were
bent on marrying a woman with money. You took this way of ensuring that
she had money, forged the letter, and murdered Lord Loudwater," said Mr.
Flexen on a rising inflexion.

"By Jove! I see what you're after. It shows how infernally silly a
schoolboy joke can be! Lord Loudwater never talked of halving my wife's
allowance. That was an invention of mine. I told her that he was doing so
just to tease her," said Mr. Manley firmly, with a note of contrition in
his voice.

Mr. Flexen opened his mouth a little way. It was a superb invention. It
left Mrs. Manley free to go into the witness-box to tell the story she
had told him. It knocked the bottom clean out of Carrington's case.

"What really happened was that Lord Loudwater was grousing about the
allowance--at being reminded every six months that he had behaved like a
cad. I suggested that he should pay her a lump sum and be done with the
business. He jumped at the idea. The cheque had come from his
stockbrokers that morning; he directed me to write that letter of
instructions to his bankers; I wrote it, and he signed it. There you have
the whole business."

"I don't believe a word of it!" cried Mr. Flexen.

Mr. Manley rose with an air of great dignity and said: "My good chap, I
can excuse your temper. It was an ingenious theory, and it must be very
annoying to have it upset. But I'm fed up with this Loudwater business.
I've got here"--he tapped the manuscript on the table--"a drama worth
fifty of it. Out of working hours I don't mind talking that affair over
with you; in them I won't."

Mr. Flexen rose and said: "You're