oint, I am reminded that
when I interviewed Manderson here he was wearing stiff cuffs, coming
well down over his hands.'

'He always did,' said Trent. 'My friend the manager says so. I pointed
out to him the fact you didn't observe, that there were no cuffs
visible, and that they had, indeed, been dragged up inside the
coat-sleeves, as yours would be if you hurried into a coat without
pulling your cuffs down. That was why you saw his wrists.'

'Well, I call that suggestive,' observed Mr. Cupples mildly. 'You might
infer, perhaps, that when he got up he hurried over his dressing.'

'Yes, but did he? The manager said just what you say. "He was always a
bit of a swell in his dress," he told me, and he drew the inference
that when Manderson got up in that mysterious way, before the house was
stirring, and went out into the grounds, he was in a great hurry. "Look
at his shoes," he said to me: "Mr. Manderson was always specially
neat about his footwear. But those shoe-laces were tied in a hurry."
I agreed. "And he left his false teeth in his room," said the manager.
"Doesn't that prove he was flustered and hurried?" I allowed that it
looked like it. But I said, "Look here: if he was so very much pressed,
why did he part his hair so carefully? That parting is a work of
art. Why did he put on so much? for he had on a complete outfit of
underclothing, studs in his shirt, sock-suspenders, a watch and chain,
money and keys and things in his pockets. That's what I said to the
manager. He couldn't find an explanation. Can you?"

Mr. Cupples considered. 'Those facts might suggest that he was hurried
only at the end of his dressing. Coat and shoes would come last.'

'But not false teeth. You ask anybody who wears them. And besides, I'm
told he hadn't washed at all on getting up, which in a neat man looks
like his being in a violent hurry from the beginning. And here's another
thing. One of his waistcoat pockets was lined with wash-leather for the
reception of his gold watch. But he had put his watch into the pocket on
the other side. Anybody who has settled habits can see how odd that is.
The fact is, there are signs of great agitation and haste, and there are
signs of exactly the opposite. For the present I am not guessing. I must
reconnoitre the ground first, if I can manage to get the right side of
the people of the house.' Trent applied himself again to his breakfast.

Mr. Cupples smiled at him benevolently. 'That is precisel