so he was able to concentrate on actual facts and actual
chances.

Up to the present, he told himself, there was absolutely nothing to
connect him with the robbery and the--murder, if murder it was. He felt
sure that the Marquess had not seen him in that brief moment, when the
old man stood in the doorway; if he had done so, he would certainly have
spoken Heyton's name; there was nothing to show that the blow had been
dealt by Heyton; with the selfishness of the baser kind of criminal, he
had refrained from examining the motionless figure, lest he should be
stained by the blood which flowed from the wound. No; the robbery would
be laid to the charge of the ordinary burglar.

Then suddenly his mind switched off with a jolt; he had forgotten that
the most damning proof of his guilt was in the cabinet opposite the bed,
where he had thrust it. At that very moment he was actually in
possession of the stolen goods; a minute search would be made, even his
own room would not be exempt. He must hide the jewel-case somewhere. But
where? Then he remembered having dropped the keys, and he hunted for
them; but he could not find them. He was getting confused, obfuscated:
he would search for the keys in the morning: perhaps, after all, he had
left them in the dressing-room.

Throughout the remaining hours of that awful night, he lay pondering the
momentous question, at one moment burning with fever, at another icy
cold. The dawn broke, the sun rose, the room grew hot; and the heat gave
him an idea. As the clock struck six, he rose, put on his boating
flannels, and, with his bath towel over his arm, opened the bedroom
door. He had actually forgotten the missing keys! Such lapses are common
to the criminal.

Miriam was a light sleeper--as her awaking at the noise of the falling
chair had proved--she became conscious of his presence and she opened
her eyes.

"Oh, what is it, Percy?" she asked, petulantly and a little nervously.

"I'm going down to the lake for a swim," he said; "it's precious hot
this morning. I left my white shoes in the room."

"No, you didn't," she said, impatiently. "I saw them with your other
boots in the dressing-room yesterday."

"Oh, right!" he said. "Awfully sorry to have disturbed you."

He returned to the dressing-room, arranged the long bath towel over the
jewel-case, and went downstairs. He was too early, as he knew, for any
of the servants to be about, and he went through the lower hall and was