ed. Before
this mystery should be solved, I foresaw that I might be involved to a
degree that was unpleasant if not dangerous. Walters would remember that
I first came here as one acquainted with the captain. He had noted, I
felt sure, the lack of intimacy between the captain and myself, once
the former arrived from India. He would no doubt testify that I had been
most anxious to obtain lodgings in the same house with Fraser-Freer.
Then there was the matter of my letter from Archie. I must keep that
secret, I felt sure. Lastly, there was not a living soul to back me up
in my story of the quarrel that preceded the captain's death, of the man
who escaped by way of the garden.

Alas, thought I, even the most stupid policeman can not fail to look
upon me with the eye of suspicion!

In about twenty minutes three men arrived from Scotland Yard. By that
time I had worked myself up into a state of absurd nervousness. I heard
Walters let them in; heard them climb the stairs and walk about in the
room overhead. In a short time Walters knocked at my door and told me
that Chief Inspector Bray desired to speak to me. As I preceded the
servant up the stairs I felt toward him as an accused murderer must feel
toward the witness who has it in his power to swear his life away.

He was a big active man--Bray; blond as are so many Englishmen. His
every move spoke efficiency. Trying to act as unconcerned as an innocent
man should--but failing miserably, I fear--I related to him my story
of the voices, the struggle, and the heavy man who had got by me in the
hall and later climbed our gate. He listened without comment. At the end
he said:

"You were acquainted with the captain?"

"Slightly," I told him. Archie's letter kept popping into my mind,
frightening me. "I had just met him--that is all; through a friend of
his--Archibald Enwright was the name."

"Is Enwright in London to vouch for you?"

"I'm afraid not. I last heard of him in Interlaken."

"Yes? How did you happen to take rooms in this house?"

"The first time I called to see the captain he had not yet arrived from
India. I was looking for lodgings and I took a great fancy to the garden
here."

It sounded silly, put like that. I wasn't surprised that the inspector
eyed me with scorn. But I rather wished he hadn't.

Bray began to walk about the room, ignoring me.

"White asters; scarab pin; Homburg hat," he detailed, pausing before the
table where those strange exhibit