get used to it. Either he would be
sitting quite still and smoking a cigar, thinking or reading, or else he
would be writing, dictating, and sending off wires all at the same time,
till it almost made one dizzy to see it, sometimes for an hour or more
at a stretch. As for being in a hurry over a telephone message, I may
say it wasn't in him to be anything else.'

Trent turned to the inspector, who met his eye with a look of answering
intelligence. Not sorry to show his understanding of the line of inquiry
opened by Trent, Mr. Murch for the first time put a question.

'Then you left him telephoning by the open window, with the lights on,
and the drinks on the table; is that it?' 'That is so, Mr. Murch.' The
delicacy of the change in Martin's manner when called upon to answer the
detective momentarily distracted Trent's appreciative mind. But the big
man's next question brought it back to the problem at once.

'About those drinks. You say Mr. Manderson often took no whisky before
going to bed. Did he have any that night?'

'I could not say. The room was put to rights in the morning by one of
the maids, and the glass washed, I presume, as usual. I know that the
decanter was nearly full that evening. I had refilled it a few days
before, and I glanced at it when I brought the fresh syphon, just out of
habit, to make sure there was a decent-looking amount.'

The inspector went to the tall corner-cupboard and opened it. He took
out a decanter of cut glass and set it on the table before Martin. 'Was
it fuller than that?' he asked quietly. 'That's how I found it this
morning.' The decanter was more than half empty.

For the first time Martin's self-possession wavered. He took up the
decanter quickly, tilted it before his eyes, and then stared amazedly
at the others. He said slowly: 'There's not much short of half a bottle
gone out of this since I last set eyes on it--and that was that Sunday
night.'

'Nobody in the house, I suppose?' suggested Trent discreetly. 'Out of
the question!' replied Martin briefly; then he added, 'I beg pardon,
sir, but this is a most extraordinary thing to me. Such a thing
never happened in all my experience of Mr. Manderson. As for the
women-servants, they never touch anything, I can answer for it; and
as for me, when I want a drink I can help myself without going to the
decanters.' He took up the decanter again and aimlessly renewed his
observation of the contents, while the inspector eyed him