him to be found."

"You don't think he fell there?"

"She dragged him, didn't she?" he demanded. Then the strangeness of what
he was saying struck him, and he smiled foolishly. "What I mean is, the
medium said she did. I don't suppose any jury would pass us tonight as
entirely sane, Horace," he said.

He walked across to the bathroom and surveyed it from the doorway. I
followed him. It was as orderly as the other room. On a glass shelf
over the wash-stand were his razors, a safety and, beside it, in a black
case, an assortment of the long-bladed variety, one for each day of the
week, and so marked.

Sperry stood thoughtfully in the doorway.

"The servants are out," he said. "According to Elinor's statement he
was dressing when he did it. And yet some one has had a wild impulse for
tidiness here, since it happened. Not a towel out of place!"

It was in the bathroom that he told me Elinor's story. According to her,
it was a simple case of suicide. And she was honest about it, in her
own way. She was shocked, but she was not pretending any wild grief.
She hadn't wanted him to die, but she had not felt that they could go on
much longer together. There had been no quarrel other than their usual
bickering. They had been going to a dance that night. The servants
had all gone out immediately after dinner to a servants' ball and the
governess had gone for a walk. She was to return at nine-thirty to
fasten Elinor's gown and to be with the children.

Arthur, she said, had been depressed for several days, and at dinner
had hardly spoken at all. He had not, however, objected to the dance. He
had, indeed, seemed strangely determined to go, although she had pleaded
a headache. At nine o'clock he went upstairs, apparently to dress.

She was in her room, with the door shut, when she heard a shot. She
ran in and found him lying on the floor of his dressing-room with his
revolver behind him. The governess was still out. The shot had roused
the children, and they had come down from the nursery above. She was
frantic, but she had to soothe them. The governess, however, came in
almost immediately, and she had sent her to the telephone to summon
help, calling Sperry first of all, and then the police.

"Have you seen the revolver?" I asked.

"Yes. It's all right, apparently. Only one shot had been fired."

"How soon did they get a doctor?"

"It must have been some time. They gave up telephoning, and the
governess went out, finall