lso, is still obscure. But we have learned a good deal, you
perceive. We know that a man stood in the road looking at the quarrel
between the Barclays--the blinds were up and the room lighted. We know,
also, that he ran across the lawn, entered the room, accompanied by a
strange animal, and that he either struck the Colonel or, as is equally
possible, that the Colonel fell down from sheer fright at the sight of
him, and cut his head on the corner of the fender. Finally, we have the
curious fact that the intruder carried away the key with him when he
left."

"Your discoveries seem to have left the business more obscure that it
was before," said I.

"Quite so. They undoubtedly showed that the affair was much deeper than
was at first conjectured. I thought the matter over, and I came to
the conclusion that I must approach the case from another aspect. But
really, Watson, I am keeping you up, and I might just as well tell you
all this on our way to Aldershot to-morrow."

"Thank you, you have gone rather too far to stop."

"It is quite certain that when Mrs. Barclay left the house at half-past
seven she was on good terms with her husband. She was never, as I think
I have said, ostentatiously affectionate, but she was heard by the
coachman chatting with the Colonel in a friendly fashion. Now, it was
equally certain that, immediately on her return, she had gone to the
room in which she was least likely to see her husband, had flown to tea
as an agitated woman will, and finally, on his coming in to her, had
broken into violent recriminations. Therefore something had occurred
between seven-thirty and nine o'clock which had completely altered her
feelings towards him. But Miss Morrison had been with her during the
whole of that hour and a half. It was absolutely certain, therefore, in
spite of her denial, that she must know something of the matter.

"My first conjecture was, that possibly there had been some passages
between this young lady and the old soldier, which the former had now
confessed to the wife. That would account for the angry return, and
also for the girl's denial that anything had occurred. Nor would it be
entirely incompatible with most of the words overhead. But there was the
reference to David, and there was the known affection of the Colonel for
his wife, to weigh against it, to say nothing of the tragic intrusion
of this other man, which might, of course, be entirely disconnected with
what had gone befor