ns, surely; but was it my
place to interfere? I remembered the cold stare in the eyes of Captain
Fraser-Freer when I presented that letter. I saw him standing motionless
in his murky study, as amiable as a statue. Would he welcome an
intrusion from me now?

Finally I made up my mind to forget these things and went down to find
Walters. He and his wife were eating their dinner in the basement. I
told him what had happened. He said he had let no visitor in to see the
captain, and was inclined to view my misgivings with a cold British eye.
However, I persuaded him to go with me to the captain's rooms.

The captain's door was open. Remembering that in England the way of the
intruder is hard, I ordered Walters to go first. He stepped into the
room, where the gas flickered feebly in an aged chandelier.

"My God, sir!" said Walters, a servant even now.

And at last I write that sentence: Captain Fraser-Freer of the Indian
Army lay dead on the floor, a smile that was almost a sneer on his
handsome English face!

The horror of it is strong with me now as I sit in the silent morning in
this room of mine which is so like the one in which the captain died. He
had been stabbed just over the heart, and my first thought was of that
odd Indian knife which I had seen lying on his study table. I turned
quickly to seek it, but it was gone. And as I looked at the table
it came to me that here in this dusty room there must be finger
prints--many finger prints.

The room was quite in order, despite those sounds of struggle. One or
two odd matters met my eye. On the table stood a box from a florist in
Bond Street. The lid had been removed and I saw that the box contained
a number of white asters. Beside the box lay a scarf-pin--an emerald
scarab. And not far from the captain's body lay what is known--owing to
the German city where it is made--as a Homburg hat.

I recalled that it is most important at such times that nothing be
disturbed, and I turned to old Walters. His face was like this paper on
which I write; his knees trembled beneath him.

"Walters," said I, "we must leave things just as they are until the
police arrive. Come with me while I notify Scotland Yard."

"Very good, sir," said Walters.

We went down then to the telephone in the lower hall, and I called up
the Yard. I was told that an inspector would come at once and I went
back to my room to wait for him.

You can well imagine the feelings that were mine as I wait