old him. "She is frightened."

Sperry eyed me with a half frown.

"Now see here, Horace," he said, "suppose we had come in here, without
the thought of that seance behind us? We'd have accepted the thing as it
appears to be, wouldn't we? There may be a dozen explanations for that
sponge, and for the razor strop. What in heaven's name has a razor strop
to do with it anyhow? One bullet was fired, and the revolver has one
empty chamber. It may not be the custom to stop shaving in order to
commit suicide, but that's no argument that it can't be done, and as to
the key--how do I know that my own back door key isn't hung outside on a
nail sometimes?"

"We might look again for that hole in the ceiling."

"I won't do it. Miss Jeremy has read of something of that sort, or heard
of it, and stored it in her subconscious mind."

But he glanced up at the ceiling nevertheless, and a moment later had
drawn up a chair and stepped onto it, and I did the same thing. We
presented, I imagine, rather a strange picture, and I know that the
presence of the rigid figure on the couch gave me a sort of ghoulish
feeling.

The house was an old one, and in the center of the high ceiling a
plaster ornament surrounded the chandelier. Our search gradually
centered on this ornament, but the chairs were low and our long-distance
examination revealed nothing. It was at that time, too, that we heard
some one in the lower hall, and we had only a moment to put our chairs
in place before the butler came in. He showed no surprise, but stood
looking at the body on the couch, his thin face working.

"I met the detectives outside, doctor," he said. "It's a terrible thing,
sir, a terrible thing."

"I'd keep the other servants out of this room, Hawkins."

"Yes, sir." He went over to the sheet, lifted the edge slowly, and then
replaced it, and tip-toed to the door. "The others are not back yet.
I'll admit them, and get them up quietly. How is Mrs. Wells?"

"Sleeping," Sperry said briefly, and Hawkins went out.

I realize now that Sperry was--I am sure he will forgive this--in a
state of nerves that night. For example, he returned only an impatient
silence to my doubt as to whether Hawkins had really only just returned
and he quite missed something downstairs which I later proved to have
an important bearing on the case. This was when we were going out, and
after Hawkins had opened the front door for us. It had been freezing
hard, and Sperry, who has a