as yet,' Sir Rupert said. 'Captain Sarrasin is not well enough yet to be
able to give us any clear account of himself.'

'He will very soon be able to give a very clear account,' Mrs. Sarrasin
said with emphasis.

'I have sent for doctors and police,' Sir Rupert observed.

'Before the house was put into a state of siege?'

'Before I had requested my friend Mr. Ericson to take command and do the
best he could,' Sir Rupert said, displeased, he hardly knew why, at Mr.
Copping's persistent questioning.

'The stranger who invaded Captain Sarrasin's room will have to explain
himself, won't he--when your police come along?'

'The stranger will not explain himself,' Sir Rupert said emphatically;
'he is dead.'

Mr. Copping had much power of self-control, but he did seem to start at
this news.

'Great Scott!' he exclaimed. 'Then I don't see how you are ever to get
at the truth of this story, Sir Rupert.'

'We shall get at the whole truth--every word--never fear,' Mrs. Sarrasin
said defiantly.

'We shall send for the local magistrates,' Sir Rupert said, 'of course.'
He was anxious, for the moment, to allow no bickerings. 'I am a
magistrate myself, but in such a case I should naturally rather leave it
to others. I have lost a dear friend by this abominable crime, Mr.
Copping.'

'So I hear, Sir Rupert--sorry to hear it, sir--so is my friend Professor
Flick.'

'Thank you--thank you both--you can understand then how I feel about the
matter, and how little I am likely to leave any stone unturned to bring
the murderers of my friend to justice. After the death of my friend
himself, I most deeply deplore the death of the man who made his way
into Sarrasin's room----'

'Yes, quite right, Sir Rupert; spoils the track, don't it?'

'But when Captain Sarrasin comes to he will tell us something.'

'He will,' Mrs. Sarrasin added earnestly.

'Well, I say,' Mr. Copping exclaimed, 'Professor Flick, and where have
you been all this time?'

The moony spectacles beamed not quite benevolently on the corridor.

'I don't quite understand, Sir Rupert Langley, sir,' the learned
Professor declared, 'why one is to be treated as a prisoner in a house
like this--a house like this, sir, in the truly hospitable home of an
English gentleman, and a statesman, and a Minister of her Majesty's
Crown of Great Britain----'

'If my esteemed and most learned friend,' Mr. Copping intervened, 'would
allow me to direct his really gigantic intellec