by my wits.'

"'I am delighted to hear it, for your advice at present would be
exceedingly valuable to me. We have had some very strange doings at
Hurlstone, and the police have been able to throw no light upon the
matter. It is really the most extraordinary and inexplicable business.'

[Illustration: REGINALD MUSGRAVE]

"You can imagine with what eagerness I listened to him, Watson, for the
very chance for which I had been panting during all those months of
inaction seemed to have come within my reach. In my inmost heart I
believed that I could succeed where others failed, and now I had the
opportunity to test myself.

"'Pray let me have the details,' I cried.

"Reginald Musgrave sat down opposite to me, and lit the cigarette which
I had pushed towards him.

"'You must know,' said he, 'that though I am a bachelor I have to keep
up a considerable staff of servants at Hurlstone, for it is a rambling
old place, and takes a good deal of looking after. I preserve, too, and
in the pheasant months I usually have a house party, so that it would
not do to be short-handed. Altogether there are eight maids, the cook,
the butler, two footmen, and a boy. The garden and the stables, of
course, have a separate staff.

"'Of these servants the one who had been longest in our service was
Brunton, the butler. He was a young schoolmaster out of place when he
was first taken up by my father, but he was a man of great energy and
character, and he soon became quite invaluable in the household. He was
a well-grown, handsome man, with a splendid forehead, and though he has
been with us for twenty years he cannot be more than forty now. With his
personal advantages and his extraordinary gifts, for he can speak
several languages and play nearly every musical instrument, it is
wonderful that he should have been satisfied so long in such a position,
but I suppose that he was comfortable and lacked energy to make any
change. The butler of Hurlstone is always a thing that is remembered by
all who visit us.

"'But this paragon has one fault. He is a bit of a Don Juan, and you can
imagine that for a man like him it is not a very difficult part to play
in a quiet country district.

"'When he was married it was all right, but since he has been a widower
we have had no end of trouble with him. A few months ago we were in
hopes that he was about to settle down again, for he became engaged to
Rachel Howells, our second housemaid, but he has thro