private room, with the
ponderous safe, and desk, and so on.

"The private room has a door into the hall of the house, so that the
manager is not obliged to go out into the street in order to go to
business. There are no living-rooms on the ground floor, and the house
has no basement.

"I am obliged to put all these architectural details before you, though
they may sound rather dry and uninteresting, but they are really
necessary in order to make my argument clear.

"At night, of course, the bank premises are barred and bolted against
the street, and as an additional precaution there is always a night
watchman in the office. As I mentioned before, there is only a glass
door between the office and the manager's private room. This, of course,
accounted for the fact that the night watchman heard all that he did
hear, on that memorable night, and so helped further to entangle the
thread of that impenetrable mystery.

"Mr. Ireland as a rule went into his office every morning a little
before ten o'clock, but on that particular morning, for some reason
which he never could or would explain, he went down before having his
breakfast at about nine o'clock. Mrs. Ireland stated subsequently that,
not hearing him return, she sent the servant down to tell the master
that breakfast was getting cold. The girl's shrieks were the first
intimation that something alarming had occurred.

"Mrs. Ireland hastened downstairs. On reaching the hall she found the
door of her husband's room open, and it was from there that the girl's
shrieks proceeded.

"'The master, mum--the poor master--he is dead, mum--I am sure he is
dead!'--accompanied by vigorous thumps against the glass partition, and
not very measured language on the part of the watchman from the outer
office, such as--'Why don't you open the door instead of making that
row?'

"Mrs. Ireland is not the sort of woman who, under any circumstances,
would lose her presence of mind. I think she proved that throughout the
many trying circumstances connected with the investigation of the case.
She gave only one glance at the room and realized the situation. On the
arm-chair, with head thrown back and eyes closed, lay Mr. Ireland,
apparently in a dead faint; some terrible shock must have very suddenly
shattered his nervous system, and rendered him prostrate for the moment.
What that shock had been it was pretty easy to guess.

"The door of the safe was wide open, and Mr. Ireland had eviden