ten things of that sort.

(WILLIAM _and_ TRENT _re-enter from_ R.C., _each carrying two chairs._
WILLIAM _crosses and places two chairs_ R. _side of circle then goes
back to close the door_.)

WALES (L.C.). I don't care what they found, or what anyone thinks of
Lee: he was my best friend, and if I can find out who killed him I'm
going to do it. It was a damned brutal murder, stabbed in the back, poor
chap, with never a chance to fight for his life. (_Moves over_ L.)

MASON (_by table_ R.). I don't seem to remember anything about the case.

WALES. It happened before you got back from France--no, by Jove, it
didn't either. It was a day or two after. I remember you and I had lunch
together the day you got home and I had dinner that night with Spencer.
Funny you don't remember anything about it.

(WILLIAM _sits_ R. _in circle_.)

MASON. Well, of course, I must have seen it in the papers, but I don't
go in much for crimes, and not knowing the man I wasn't interested.

STANDISH (_sitting in circle_ L.C.). It was a good deal of a sensation.
The man knew a lot of nice people. Came here a good deal, didn't he,
Mr. Crosby?

CROSBY (_sitting in circle up_ C.). At one time. But after Helen married
he rather dropped out of it. Fact is, until Trent here appeared on the
scene he was always hanging around.

(TRENT _comes down and sits in_ R. _side of circle_.)

STANDISH. Funny they never found out who killed him.

WALES (_standing outside of circle_, L. _side_). They may not. They
haven't stopped trying.

MASON (_seated on table_ R.). Oh, are the police still interested?

WALES. Yes, they're interested. As a matter of fact there's a reward of
five thousand dollars for the discovery of the murderers.

STANDISH. Are you sure of that?

WALES. I offered it.

TRENT. You?

WALES. Yes. What sort of a man do you think I am? Do you expect me to
sit still and let the murderers of Spencer Lee go free? Why, I'd known
the man all his life. We were the closest friends.

WILLIAM. But if he was the kind of a man that Standish says--

WALES. I don't give a damn what he was. He was my friend, and I'm never
going to rest till I find out who killed him.

TRENT. But.

WALES. I wouldn't care so much if they'd given the poor devil half a
chance for his life, but they stabbed him in the back.

MASON. Wasn't there any indication--

WALES. There wasn't a thing to show who did it, or how it was done. A
knife-wound between the shoulde