knew that the case was hopeless.

[Illustration: "INSPECTOR FORRESTER."]

"We had no clue in the Acton affair. But here we have plenty to go on,
and there's no doubt it is the same party in each case. The man was
seen."

"Ah!"

"Yes, sir. But he was off like a deer after the shot that killed poor
William Kirwan was fired. Mr. Cunningham saw him from the bedroom
window, and Mr. Alec Cunningham saw him from the back passage. It was a
quarter to twelve when the alarm broke out. Mr. Cunningham had just got
into bed, and Mister Alec was smoking a pipe in his dressing-gown. They
both heard William, the coachman, calling for help, and Mister Alec he
ran down to see what was the matter. The back door was open, and as he
came to the foot of the stairs he saw two men wrestling together
outside. One of them fired a shot, the other dropped, and the murderer
rushed across the garden and over the hedge. Mr. Cunningham, looking out
of his bedroom window, saw the fellow as he gained the road, but lost
sight of him at once. Mister Alec stopped to see if he could help the
dying man, and so the villain got clean away. Beyond the fact that he
was a middle-sized man, and dressed in some dark stuff, we have no
personal clue, but we are making energetic inquiries, and if he is a
stranger we shall soon find him out."

"What was this William doing there? Did he say anything before he died?"

"Not a word. He lives at the lodge with his mother, and as he was a very
faithful fellow, we imagine that he walked up to the house with the
intention of seeing that all was right there. Of course, this Acton
business has put everyone on their guard. The robber must have just
burst open the door--the lock has been forced--when William came upon
him."

"Did William say anything to his mother before going out?"

"She is very old and deaf, and we can get no information from her. The
shock has made her half-witted, but I understand that she was never very
bright. There is one very important circumstance, however. Look at
this!"

He took a small piece of torn paper from a note-book and spread it out
upon his knee.

"This was found between the finger and thumb of the dead man. It appears
to be a fragment torn from a larger sheet. You will observe that the
hour mentioned upon it is the very time at which the poor fellow met his
fate. You see that his murderer might have torn the rest of the sheet
from him or he might have taken this fragment from the