ews," said one of the housemaids.

Mr. Manley locked the library door and put that key also in his pocket.

Then he said in a tone of authority: "I think, Mrs. Carruthers, that the
sooner we all have breakfast the better. I for one am going to have a
hard day, and I shall need all my strength. We all shall."

"Certainly, Mr. Manley. You're quite right. We shall all need our
strength. You shall have your breakfast at once. I'll have it sent to
the little dining-room. You would like to be on the spot. Come along,
girls. Wilkins, and you, Holloway, get on with your work as quickly as
you can," said Mrs. Carruthers, driving her flock before her towards the
servants' quarters.

"Thank you. And will you see that no one wakes Lady Loudwater before
her usual hour, or tells her what has happened? I will tell her myself
and try to break the news with as little of a shock as possible," said
Mr. Manley.

"Twitcher hasn't bin downstairs yet. She doesn't know anything about it,"
said one of the maids.

"Send her straight to me--to the terrace when she does come down," said
Mr. Manley, walking towards the hall door.

He felt that after the sight of the dead man's face the fresh morning air
would do him good.

There came a sudden burst of excited chatter from the women as they
passed beyond the door into the back of the Castle. All their tongues
seemed to be loosed at once. Mr. Manley went out of the Castle door,
crossed the drive, and walked up and down the lawn. He took long breaths
through his nostrils; the sight of the dead man's yellowish face had been
unpleasant indeed to a man of his sensibility.

In about five minutes Elizabeth Twitcher came out of the big door and
across the lawn to him. She was looking startled and scared.

"Mrs. Carruthers said you wished to speak to me, sir?" she said quickly.

"Yes. I propose to break the news of this very shocking affair to Lady
Loudwater myself. She's rather fragile, I fancy. And I think that it
needs doing with the greatest possible tact--so as to lessen the shock,"
said Mr. Manley in an impressive voice.

Elizabeth Twitcher gazed at him with a growing suspicion in her eyes.
Then she said: "It isn't--it isn't a trap?"

"A trap? What kind of a trap? What on earth do you mean?" said Mr.
Manley, in a not unnatural bewilderment at the odd suggestion.

"You might be trying to take her off her guard," said Elizabeth Twitcher
in a tone of deep suspicion.

"Her guard against w