al, rung the bell to waken the other
servants. Then when Liska came downstairs she had sent her up to the
pastor's room. His bedroom was to the right of the dining-room.
Liska had, as usual, knocked on the door exactly at seven o'clock and
continued knocking for some few minutes without receiving any answer.
Slightly alarmed, the girl had gone back and told the housekeeper that
the pastor did not answer.

Then the old woman asked the coachman to go up and see if anything
was the matter with the reverend gentleman. The man returned in a few
moments, pale and trembling in every limb and apparently struck dumb by
fright. He motioned the women to follow him, and all three crept up
the stairs. The coachman led them first to the pastor's bed, which was
untouched, and then to the pool of blood in his study. The sight of the
latter frightened the servants so much that they did not notice at first
that there was no sign of the pastor himself, whom they now knew must
have been murdered. When they finally came to themselves sufficiently to
take some action, the man hurried off to call the magistrate, and Liska
ran to the asylum to fetch the old doctor; the pastor's intimate friend.
The aged housekeeper, trembling in fear, crept back to her own room and
sat there waiting the return of the others.

This was the story of the early morning as told by the three servants,
who had already given their report in much the same words to the Count
on his arrival and also to the magistrate. There was no reason to doubt
the words of either the old housekeeper or of Janos, the coachman, who
had served for more than twenty years in the rectory and whose fidelity
was known. The girl Liska was scarcely eighteen, and her round childish
face and big eyes dimmed with tears, corroborated her story. When they
had told Muller all they knew, the detective sat stroking, his chin, and
looking thoughtfully at the floor. Then he raised his head and said,
in a tone of calm friendliness: "Well, good friends, this will do for
to-night. Now, if you will kindly give me a bite to eat and a glass of
some light wine, I'd be very thankful. I have had no food since early
this morning."

The housekeeper and the maid disappeared, and Janos went to the stable
to harness the Count's trap.

The magnate turned to the detective. "I thank you once more that you
have come to us. I appreciate it greatly that a stranger to our part of
the country, like yourself, should give h