acquaintances at Scotland Yard would have agreed with him."

"Do you think I ought to have taken any further measures?" I asked
uneasily.

"No; I don't see how you could. You did all that was possible under the
circumstances. You gave information, which is all that a private
individual can do, especially if he is an overworked general
practitioner. But still, an actual crime is the affair of every good
citizen. I think we ought to take some action."

"You think there really was a crime, then?"

"What else can one think? What do you think about it yourself?"

"I don't like to think about it at all. The recollection of that
corpse-like figure in that gloomy bedroom has haunted me ever since I
left the house. What do you suppose has happened?"

Thorndyke did not answer for a few seconds. At length he said gravely:

"I am afraid, Jervis, that the answer to that question can be given in
one word."

"Murder?" I asked with a slight shudder.

He nodded, and we were both silent for a while.

"The probability," he resumed after a pause, "that Mr. Graves is alive
at this moment seems to me infinitesimal. There was evidently a