r and myself," he said to the assembled servants.
"You must obey them as you would obey me. I place matters unreservedly
in their hands."

"And our questions should be answered without reserve," put in Winter.

"Yes, of course. I implied that. At any rate, it is clear now."

"Brodie," said Furneaux, seeming to pounce on the chauffeur, "you were
seated at the wheel when the shot was fired?"

"Ye--yes, sir," stuttered Brodie, rather taken aback by the little
man's suddenness.

"Were you looking at the wood?"

"In a sort of a way, sir."

"Did you see any one among the trees?"

"No, sir, that I didn't." This more confidently.

"Place your car where it was stationed then. Take your seat, and try
to imagine that you are waiting for your master. Start the engine, and
behave exactly as though you expected him to enter the car. Don't
watch the wood. I mean that you are not to avoid looking at it, but
just throw yourself back to the condition of mind you were in at nine
twenty-five this morning. Can you manage that?"

"I think so, sir."

"No chatting with others, you know. Fancy you are about to take Mr.
Fenley to the station. If you should happen to see me, wave your hand.
Then you can get down and stop the engine. You understand you are not
to keep a sharp lookout for me?"

"Yes, sir."

The butler thought it would take a quarter of an hour to collect
sample pairs of boots from the house and outlying cottages. Police
Constable Farrow was instructed to bring the butler and the array of
boots to the place where the footprints were found, and Bates led the
detectives and the Inspector thither at once.

Soon the four men were gazing at the telltale marks, and the
Inspector, of course, was ready with a shrewd comment.

"Whoever it was that came this way, he didn't take much trouble to
hide his tracks," he said.

The Scotland Yard experts were so obviously impressed that the
Inspector tried a higher flight.

"They're a man's boots," he continued. "We needn't have worried
Tomlinson to gather the maids' footgear."

Furneaux left two neat imprints in the damp soil.

"Bet you a penny whistle there are at least two women in The Towers
who will make bigger blobs than these," he said.

A penny whistle, as a wager, is what Police Constable Farrow would
term "unusual."

"Quite so," said the Inspector thoughtfully.

Winter caught Furneaux's eye, and frowned. There was nothing to be
gained by taking a rise out of th