e loud ringing
of the bell had attracted her attention. She was a little hard of
hearing. Perhaps that was why she had not heard the shot; but in any
case the study was a long way off. She remembered hearing some sound
which she imagined to be the slamming of a door. That was a good deal
earlier--half an hour at least before the ringing of the bell. When Mr.
Ames ran to the front she went with him. She saw Mr. Barker, very pale
and excited, come out of the study. He intercepted Mrs. Douglas, who
was coming down the stairs. He entreated her to go back, and she
answered him, but what she said could not be heard.

"Take her up! Stay with her!" he had said to Mrs. Allen.

She had therefore taken her to the bedroom, and endeavoured to soothe
her. She was greatly excited, trembling all over, but made no other
attempt to go downstairs. She just sat in her dressing gown by her
bedroom fire, with her head sunk in her hands. Mrs. Allen stayed with
her most of the night. As to the other servants, they had all gone to
bed, and the alarm did not reach them until just before the police
arrived. They slept at the extreme back of the house, and could not
possibly have heard anything.

So far the housekeeper could add nothing on cross-examination save
lamentations and expressions of amazement.

Cecil Barker succeeded Mrs. Allen as a witness. As to the occurrences
of the night before, he had very little to add to what he had already
told the police. Personally, he was convinced that the murderer had
escaped by the window. The bloodstain was conclusive, in his opinion,
on that point. Besides, as the bridge was up, there was no other
possible way of escaping. He could not explain what had become of the
assassin or why he had not taken his bicycle, if it were indeed his. He
could not possibly have been drowned in the moat, which was at no place
more than three feet deep.

In his own mind he had a very definite theory about the murder. Douglas
was a reticent man, and there were some chapters in his life of which
he never spoke. He had emigrated to America when he was a very young
man. He had prospered well, and Barker had first met him in California,
where they had become partners in a successful mining claim at a place
called Benito Canyon. They had done very well; but Douglas had suddenly
sold out and started for England. He was a widower at that time. Barker
had afterwards realized his money and come to live in London. Thus they
had