this, he came to the conclusion
that Nepcote must have left it there after the shooting, and Hazel Rath
found it when she went to look for a weapon."

"I see. And what is your own opinion?"

"I do not believe it for one moment."

"Why not?"

"For one thing, it strikes me as unlikely that Nepcote would forget his
revolver when leaving the gun-room. In any case, the police are taking
too much for granted in assuming, without inquiry, that he did. Caldew
told me that the question of the ownership of the revolver did not
affect the case against Hazel Rath in the slightest degree."

"Do you know whether the revolver was seen by anybody between the time
of Captain Nepcote's departure and its discovery in Hazel Rath's
possession?"

"I understand that it was not."

"Do you know whether Captain Nepcote took it from the gun-room after the
target shooting?"

"That I cannot say. I left the gun-room before the shooting was
finished."

"Let me see if I thoroughly understand the position," said Colwyn. "In
your narrative of the events of the murder you stated that all the
members of the household and the guests were in the dining-room when the
murder was committed. Nepcote was not there because he had returned to
London during the afternoon. Nevertheless, it was with his revolver that
your wife was shot."

"That is correct," said Phil.

"If Nepcote did not leave his revolver in the gun-room the police theory
would be upset on an important point, and the case would take on a new
aspect. Have you any suspicions that you have not confided to me?"

"I cannot say that I have any particular suspicions," the young man
replied. "I do not know what to think, but I should like to have this
terrible mystery cleared up. I have not seen Nepcote since the day of
the murder to ask him about the revolver. He said good-bye to me before
he left, and I understood that he had received a wire from the War
Office recalling him to the front. After the murder I was taken ill, as
I have told you, and it was not until to-day that I was informed of what
happened during my illness."

"I am inclined to agree with you that the case wants further
investigation," said Colwyn.

"Then will you undertake it?" asked Phil.

The feeling that he was face to face with one of the deepest mysteries
of his career acted as an irresistible call to Colwyn's intellect. He
consulted the leaves of his engagement book.

"Yes, I will come," he said.

Phil glan