"Has the Marquess recovered consciousness?" he asked.

"Not yet, I am sorry to say," replied Heyton. "They are keeping the room
very quiet, and my wife will tell me the moment my father comes to."

"I should like to know, when he does so, my lord," said the detective.
"Is there anyone else with him--I mean, beside the doctor and the
nurse?"

"Mrs. Dexter, the housekeeper, and a young lady, Miss Grant, a kind of
secretary and librarian."

"Just so," said Mr. Jacobs. "Thank you, my lord. I don't use alcohol;
but I should like to have a cup of tea, if I may: great tea-drinker."

He took his cup of tea with the Inspector in the morning-room, and while
he drank it, he talked to the Inspector--of the country and the crops.

"I love the country," he said. "If I had my way, I would never put foot
in London again. When I retire, Inspector, I'm going to buy a little
farm--if it will run to it; and London won't see me again in a hurry.
Beautiful place, this; and they breed a remarkably good class of cattle.
I'm rather an authority on shorthorns; shall go in for some myself, if I
can afford it."

To all this the Inspector listened with amazement.

"Anything you'd like me to do, Mr. Jacobs?" he asked, in a tone that
verged on exasperation. "Is there anything else you'd like to see? That
window in the lower hall, for instance?"

"Thanks; I saw it as we passed through," replied Mr. Jacobs, simply.
"No; I don't think there's anything I want to see. Yes; this is a
beautiful house; quite a show-place. I should like to see something of
it presently; but one doesn't like to intrude at such a time as this."
The Inspector stared at him. "But perhaps I might go through what I
suppose you'd call the state rooms--and yes, upstairs."

"I thought you would have liked to examine the whole house without loss
of time," remarked the Inspector, with an aggrieved air.

"Oh, presently will do," said Mr. Jacobs; "don't want to make myself a
nuisance. We might walk round the grounds."

They went out, the Inspector still confused and aggrieved by what he
considered the detective's lack of business method, and Mr. Jacobs gazed
round him with approval and admiration.

"Beautiful! Beautiful!" he murmured. "Where's this lake Lord Heyton
spoke of? I should like to see that. In my opinion, every place of this
sort ought to have a bit of water: lends such a charm to the scenery,
don't you think, Inspector?"

"Oh, yes," assented the Inspector, alm