ree on the window and the two
on the drawer were made by his right hand.

By eight o'clock I had made at the establishment of Mr. H. T. Copper,
photographer, of Bishopsbridge, and with his assistance, a dozen
enlarged prints of the finger-marks of Marlowe, clearly showing the
identity of those which he unknowingly made in my presence and those
left upon articles in his bedroom, with those found by me as I have
described, and thus establishing the facts that Marlowe was recently in
Manderson's bedroom, where he had in the ordinary way no business, and
in Mrs. Manderson's room, where he had still less. I hope it may be
possible to reproduce these prints for publication with this despatch.

At nine o'clock I was back in my room at the hotel and sitting down to
begin this manuscript. I had my story complete.

I bring it to a close by advancing these further propositions: that on
the night of the murder the impersonator of Manderson, being in
Manderson's bedroom, told Mrs. Manderson, as he had already told Martin,
that Marlowe was at that moment on his way to Southampton; that having
made his dispositions in the room, he switched off the light, and lay in
the bed in his clothes; that he waited until he was assured that Mrs.
Manderson was asleep; that he then arose and stealthily crossed Mrs.
Manderson's bedroom in his stocking feet, having under his arm the
bundle of clothing and shoes for the body; that he stepped behind the
curtain, pushing the doors of the window a little further open with his
hands, strode over the iron railing of the balcony, and let himself down
until only a drop of a few feet separated him from the soft turf of the
lawn.

All this might very well have been accomplished within half an hour of
his entering Manderson's bedroom, which according to Martin he did at
about half-past eleven.

What followed your readers and the authorities may conjecture for
themselves. The corpse was found next morning clothed--rather untidily.
Marlowe in the car appeared at Southampton by half-past six.

* * * * *

I bring this manuscript to an end in my sitting-room at the hotel at
Marlstone. It is four o'clock in the morning. I leave for London by the
noon train from Bishopsbridge. By this evening these pages will be in
your hands, and I ask you to communicate the substance of them to the
Criminal Investigation Department.

PHILIP TRENT.

CHAPTER XI

EVIL DAYS

"I am re