atter," said Mr.
Manley gravely.

"As to its being a murder, I've pretty well made up my mind that it was,"
said Mr. Flexen.

Mr. Manley looked at him gravely: "You have, have you?" he said. Then he
added: "About that knife and the finger-prints on it, if it happens to
have recorded any: I've been thinking that you may find yourself
suffering from an embarrassment of riches. I know that mine will be on
it, and Lady Loudwater's, who used it to cut the leaves of a volume of
poetry the day before yesterday, and Hutchings', who cut the string of a
parcel of books with it yesterday, and very likely the fingerprints of
Lord Loudwater. You know how it is with a knife like that, which lies
open and handy. Every one uses it. I've seen Lady Loudwater use it to cut
flowers, and Lord Loudwater to cut the end off a cigar--cursing, of
course, because he couldn't lay his hands on a cigar-cutter, and the
knife was blunt--and I've cut all kinds of things with it myself."

"Yes; but the finger-prints of the murderer, if it does record them, will
be on the top of all those others. I shall simply take prints from all of
you and eliminate them."

"Of course; you can get at it that way," said Mr. Manley.

They were silent while Holloway set the cheese-straws on the table.

When he had left the room Mr. Flexen said in a casual tone: "You don't
happen to know whether Lord Loudwater was mixed up with any woman in the
neighbourhood?"

Mr. Manley paused, then laughed and said: "It's no use at all. When I
told you that I would throw no light on the matter, if I could help it, I
really meant it. At the same time, I don't mind saying that, with his
reputation for brutality, I should think it very unlikely."

"You can never tell about women. So many of them seem to prefer brutes.
And, after all, a peer is a peer," said Mr. Flexen.

"There is that," said Mr. Manley in thoughtful agreement.

But he was frowning faintly as he cudgelled his brains in the effort to
think what had set Mr. Flexen on the track of Helena Truslove, for it
must be Helena.

"I expect I shall be able to find out from his lawyers," said Mr. Flexen.

"This promises to be interesting--the intervention of Romance," said Mr.
Manley in a tone of livelier interest. "I took it that the murder, if it
was a murder, would be a sordid business, in keeping with Lord
Loudwater himself. But if you're going to introduce a lady into the
case, it promises to be more fruitful in inter