thing new about the case in the papers, but on
reaching Swindon he bought a few and looked through them. His search
was rewarded by finding an article on the crime. The inquest had been
held, and the jury had brought in a verdict of "Murder against some
person or persons unknown!" But it was plainly stated that the police
could not find a clue to the assassin. The article in question did not
pretend to solve the mystery, but collocated the facts so as to put the
case in a nutshell.

"The facts are these," said the journal, after a preliminary
introduction. "A quiet maiden lady living at Rose Cottage, Rexton,
received three friends to a card-party. Difference arising--and such
things will arise amongst the best when cards are in question--two of
the friends, Mrs. Herne, an old lady and life-long friend of the
deceased, and Mr. Hale, a lawyer of repute and the legal adviser of
Miss Loach, depart before ten o'clock. In her evidence Mrs. Herne
stated that she and Mr. Hale left at half-past nine, and her assertion
was corroborated by Mr. Hale himself. Mr. Clancy, the third friend,
left at ten, being shown out by the maid Susan Grant, who then returned
to the kitchen. She left Miss Loach seated in her usual chair near the
fire, and with a pack of cards on her lap. Probably the deceased lady
intended to play a game of 'Patience'!

"The four servants, three women and a man, had their supper. During the
supper the man asserted that he heard the front door open, but as Miss
Loach was in the habit of walking in the garden before retiring, it was
thought that she had gone out to take her usual stroll. Whether the
man heard the door open or shut he was not quite sure. However,
thinking his mistress was walking in the garden as usual, the man paid
no further attention to the incident. At eleven (precisely at eleven,
for the kitchen clock struck), the sitting-room bell rang. Susan Grant
entered the room, and found Miss Loach seated in her chair exactly as
she had left her, even to the fact that the cards were in her lap. But
she had been stabbed to the heart with some sharp instrument and was
quite dead. The front door was closed and the windows barred.

"Now it is certain that Miss Loach met her death between the hours of
ten and eleven. Susan Grant saw her alive at ten, seated in her usual
chair with the cards on her lap, and at eleven, she there found her
dead, still with the cards. It would seem as though immedia