sofa and on the carpet below.

"It is not a pleasant idea," Morriston said; "but you see these marks are
directly under the place where the dead man lay in the room above. The
blood from his wound evidently ran through the chinks of the flooring on
to the beams of the ceiling here and so fell drop by drop on the couch
and on any one sitting there. Rather gruesome, but I am sure we must be
all very glad to get the simple explanation. The only wonder is that no
one thought of it before."

"Muriel was sitting just at that end of the sofa when I proposed to her,"
Kelson said in a low voice to Gifford.

"I am delighted the matter is so completely accounted for," his friend
returned. "What fools we were ever to have taken it so tragically."

But his expression changed as he glanced at Edith Morriston; she had
denied that she had been in the room.

"I have sent down to the police to tell them of the discovery," Morriston
was saying. "The fact is that since the tragedy the servants appear to
have rather shunned this part of the house, or at any rate to have
devoted as little time to it as possible. Otherwise this would have come
to light sooner. Anyhow it is a source of congratulation to Miss
Tredworth and you, Edith. Of course you must have been in here."

"I remember sitting just there; ugh!" Miss Tredworth said with a shudder.

"I can swear to that," Kelson corroborated with a knowing smile.

"You must have done the same or brushed against the sofa, Edith,"
Morriston said cheerfully. "Well, I'm glad that's settled, although it
brings us no nearer towards solving the mystery of what happened
overhead."

"No," Kelson remarked. "It looks as though that was going to remain
a mystery."

The butler came in. "Major Freeman is here, sir," he said, "with Mr.
Henshaw, and would like to speak to you."

Morriston looked surprised. "Alfred has been very quick. We sent him off
only about a quarter of an hour ago."

"Alfred met Major Freeman and Mr. Henshaw with the detective just beyond
the lodge gates, sir."

"Then they were coming up here independently of my message?"

"Yes, sir. Alfred gave Major Freeman the message and came back."

Morriston moved towards the door. "I will see these gentlemen at
once," he said.

"In the library, sir."

Involuntarily Gifford had glanced at Edith Morriston. She was standing
impassively with set face; and at his glance she turned away to the
window. But not before he had caught in h