o the edge of the river.

Copplestone halted, and looked round, measuring distances. Then he moved
on, keeping close to the trees.

"About here, I think," said the clergyman, pausing.

Copplestone stopped a few paces ahead.

"It was very dark," he said, looking at the ground. "I don't think I
knew exactly where we were. As near as I can judge, it was just here."

"There ought to have been some sign left to mark the place when the body
was taken away," the inspector said sharply.

"You will find," said the quiet voice of Monsieur Dupont, "a pencil in
the ground at the exact spot. It is a useful pencil, and I should be
obliged if you would kindly return it to me."

The inspector shot him a rather grim smile. All, except Copplestone,
bent down to look for the sign.

"Here it is," Tranter exclaimed, pulling a pencil out of the ground.
They stood aside to give the inspector room.

"The rain has washed away any traces that might have helped us," that
official grumbled, after a fruitless search.

"And even if it had not," the manager observed, "you would only have
found traces of all of us, as we were all here."

The inspector continued his examination. Copplestone stood apart, his
eyes fixed on the river. He did not appear to be taking the slightest
interest in the proceedings.

"In what position was the body lying?" the inspector asked, looking up
at the clergyman.

"It was so horribly contorted that it is difficult to say in what
position it _was_ lying," the latter replied, bending down beside him.
"The head, I think, lay towards the river, and the feet towards the
trees."

"It was so when we came," Copplestone corroborated, without turning his
head.

"There are no signs of a struggle here," said the inspector,
straightening himself after another pause. "If there had been one, some
of the heavier indications might have remained in spite of the rain."

"It is possible," Monsieur Dupont suggested, "that the body was carried
here from the place where the struggle did take place."

"Quite possible," the inspector agreed. He turned to Tranter. "Will you
show us now, Mr. Tranter, where you parted from Miss Manderson?"

"I am not familiar with the garden," Tranter replied. "I only know, as I
told you last night, that we had just passed under some arches across
the path. I do not know where they are."

"Mr. Copplestone will show us," said the inspector.

Copplestone started at the sound of his own name, an