h, and the weapon with which he had been murdered; that he concealed
these, rang the bell for the butler, and sat down at the telephone
with his hat on and his back to the door; that he was occupied with the
telephone all the time Martin was in the room; that on going up to the
bedroom floor he quietly entered Marlowe's room and placed the revolver
with which the crime had been committed--Marlowe's revolver--in the case
on the mantelpiece from which it had been taken; and that he then went
to Manderson's room, placed Manderson's shoes outside the door, threw
Manderson's garments on a chair, placed the denture in the bowl by the
bedside, and selected a suit of clothes, a pair of shoes, and a tie from
those in the bedroom.

Here I will pause in my statement of this man's proceedings to go into a
question for which the way is now sufficiently prepared:

Who was the false Manderson?

Reviewing what was known to me, or might almost with certainty be
surmised, about that person, I set down the following five conclusions:

(1.) He had been in close relations with the dead man. In his acting
before Martin and his speaking to Mrs Manderson he had made no mistake.

(2.) He was of a build not unlike Manderson's, especially as to height
and breadth of shoulder, which mainly determine the character of the
back of a seated figure when the head is concealed and the body loosely
clothed. But his feet were larger, though not greatly larger, than
Manderson's.

(3.) He had considerable aptitude for mimicry and acting--probably some
experience too.

(4.) He had a minute acquaintance with the ways of the Manderson
household.

(5.) He was under a vital necessity of creating the belief that
Manderson was alive and in that house until some time after midnight on
the Sunday night.

So much I took as either certain or next door to it. It was as far as I
could see. And it was far enough.

I proceed to give, in an order corresponding with the numbered
paragraphs above, such relevant facts as I was able to obtain about Mr
John Marlowe, from himself and other sources:

(1.) He had been Mr Manderson's private secretary, upon a footing of
great intimacy, for nearly four years.

(2.) The two men were nearly of the same height, about five feet eleven
inches; both were powerfully built and heavy in the shoulder. Marlowe,
who was the younger by some twenty years, was rather slighter about the
body, though Manderson was a man in good physica