s if
something was going to arrive. It's always easy to remember that people
looked like that, after something has happened to them. Still, that's
what they say. There you are again, then: suicide! Now, why wasn't it
suicide, Mr. Trent?'

'The facts so far as I know them are really all against it,' Trent
replied, sitting on the threshold of the window and clasping his knees.
'First, of course, no weapon is to be found. I've searched, and you've
searched, and there's no trace of any firearm anywhere within a stone's
throw of where the body lay. Second, the marks on the wrists, fresh
scratches and bruises, which we can only assume to have been done in
a struggle with somebody. Third, who ever heard of anybody shooting
himself in the eye? Then I heard from the manager of the hotel here
another fact, which strikes me as the most curious detail in this
affair. Manderson had dressed himself fully before going out there, but
he forgot his false teeth. Now how could a suicide who dressed himself
to make a decent appearance as a corpse forget his teeth?'

'That last argument hadn't struck me,' admitted Mr. Murch. 'There's
something in it. But on the strength of the other points, which had
occurred to me, I am not considering suicide. I have been looking about
for ideas in this house, this morning. I expect you were thinking of
doing the same.'

'That is so. It is a case for ideas, it seems to me. Come, Murch, let
us make an effort; let us bend our spirits to a temper of general
suspicion. Let us suspect everybody in the house, to begin with. Listen:
I will tell you whom I suspect. I suspect Mrs. Manderson, of course. I
also suspect both the secretaries--I hear there are two, and I hardly
know which of them I regard as more thoroughly open to suspicion. I
suspect the butler and the lady's maid. I suspect the other domestics,
and especially do I suspect the boot-boy. By the way, what domestics are
there? I have more than enough suspicion to go round, whatever the size
of the establishment; but as a matter of curiosity I should like to
know.'

'All very well to laugh,' replied the inspector, 'but at the first stage
of affairs it's the only safe principle, and you know that as well as I
do, Mr. Trent. However, I've seen enough of the people here, last night
and today, to put a few of them out of my mind for the present at least.
You will form your own conclusions. As for the establishment, there's
the butler and lady's maid, co