dequate
explanation." He paused, his words were now coming more slowly.
Jimmy was now acutely conscious of an air of painful expectancy.

"There are only eleven of us here this morning, Mr. Hale. Two of
the eleven arrived this morning, early this morning. Until an hour
ago we had not heard from the three missing men. At eight o'clock,
about an hour ago, we received a telephone message to the effect
that August Schurman, of New York, was found dead in his room. He
committed suicide."

The pause that now ensued was painful. The scene before Jimmy was
unreal. Eleven old men, not one of them less than eighty-two years
of age, men who had seen, lived and suffered much, were looking at
him, each in his own way showing his reaction to the scene.
Justice Higginbotham turned an apologetic, whimsical smile to
Professor Brierly:

"You and I, Professor, and I am sure, the rest of us, can and do
look at death calmly. I am sorry to inflict this sort of thing on
you, but there are circumstances about this that make it rather
painful. The fact that we have not heard from the other two men,
Miller and Wrigley, takes on rather ghastly importance."

Once more there was a painful pause. Jimmy's mind was phrasing
words to describe the scene. The eleven old men, waiting to hear
from the other three. The dead stillness of the group, hardly
breathing; the mask-like features of Lorenzo Tonti, the suffused
features and protuberant eyes of Fletcher, the high cheek bones of
Stanislav Vasiliewski, the somber look of former Police
Commissioner McGuire, upon whose normally smiling countenance
gloom sat so ill.

Jimmy's mind also found words and phrases to describe the
sparkling waters of Lake Memphremagog, the wooded western shore in
the distance. The few boats floating on the surface of the water
looked unreal. The faint soft beat of a distant motor equally
false. Jimmy hardly breathed; he had a vague unformed desire to
hold this scene, to prolong it. There was a silence that was
almost painful. Eleven men waiting, waiting for--what?

The shrill ringing of the telephone in a distant part of the house
came with the effect of a sudden blow. Schooled as were most of
these men to suppress their emotions, some of them started at the
first burst of metallic sound. Jimmy caught the looks that some of
them cast at one another. In those looks there was hesitance, and
quickly suppressed fear.

A grizzled, white-headed negro came to the door. He add