tter of fact she is
extremely practical and self-possessed. You were saying----" he
concluded with the air of a man who dismisses a trifling subject in
favour of one of some importance.

"Diplomatists should be trained physiognomists," murmured Malcolm
Sage. "A man's mouth rarely lies, a woman's never."

Sir Lyster stared.

"Now," continued Malcolm Sage, "I should like to know who is staying
here."

Sir Lyster proceeded to give some details of the guests and servants.
The domestic staff comprised twenty-one, and none had been in Sir
Lyster's employ for less than three years. They were all excellent
servants, of irreproachable character, who had come to him with good
references. Seventeen of the twenty-one lived in the house. There
were also four lady's-maids and five men-servants attached to the
guests. Among the men-servants was Sir Jeffrey Trawler's Japanese
valet.

There was something in Sir Lyster's voice as he mentioned this fact
that caused Malcolm Sage to look up at him sharply.

"The man you have just seen," Sir Lyster explained. "He has been the
cause of some little difficulty in the servants'-hall. They object
to sitting down to meals with a Chinaman, as they call him.

"He seems intelligent?" remarked Malcolm Sage casually.

"On the contrary, he is an extremely stupid creature," was the reply.
"He is continually losing himself. Only yesterday morning I myself
found him wandering about the corridor leading to my own bedroom.
Walters has also mentioned the matter to me."

Sir Lyster then passed on to the guests. They comprised Mrs. Selton,
an aunt of Sir Lyster; Sir Jeffrey and Lady Trawlor, old friends of
their hostess; Lady Whyndale and her two daughters. There were also
Mr. Gerald Nash, M. P., and Mr. and Mrs. Richard Winnington, old
friends of Sir Lyster and Lady Grayne.

"Later, I may require a list of the guests," said Malcolm Sage, when
Sir Lyster had completed his account. "You said, I think, that the
key of the safe was sometimes left in an accessible place?"

"Yes, in a drawer."

"So that anyone having access to the room could easily have taken a
wax impression."

"Sir Lyster flushed slightly.

"There is no one----" he began.

"There is always a potential someone," corrected Malcolm Sage,
raising his eyes suddenly and fixing them full upon Sir Lyster.

"The question is, Sage," broke in Mr. Llewellyn John tactfully,
"what are we to do?"

"I should first like to see the inside of