afraid of the vengeance the actual murderer would endeavour to exact for
this disclosure which would enable the police to take measures to prevent
his escape?

No light was thrown on the cause of the murdered man's sudden return from
grouse-shooting in Scotland. The newspaper accounts, though they differed
greatly in their statements, surmises, and suggestions concerning the
tragedy, agreed on the point that Sir Horace had been a keen sportsman
and was a very fine shot. In years past he had made a practice of
spending the early part of the long vacation in Scotland, going there for
the opening of the grouse season on the 12th of August. This year he had
been one of a party of five who had rented Craigleith Hall in the Western
Highlands, and after five days' shooting he had announced that he had to
go to London on urgent business, but would return in the course of a week
or less. It was suggested in some of the newspaper accounts that an
explanation of the cause of his return might throw some light on the
murder. Inquiries were being made at Craigleith Hall to ascertain the
reason for his journey to London, or whether any telegram had been
received by him previous to his departure.

The fact that one of the windows on the ground floor of Riversbrook had
been found open was regarded as evidence that the murderer had broken
into the house. Imprints of footsteps had been found in the ground
outside the window, and the police had taken several casts of these; but
whether the man who had broken into the house with the intention of
committing burglary or murder was a matter on which speculation differed.
If the murderer was a criminal who had broken into the house with the
intention of committing a burglary, there could be no connection between
the return of Sir Horace Fewbanks from Scotland and his murder. The
burglary had probably been arranged in the belief that the house was