and terror. It was a nice face, or would have been, did it not show
all too plainly the marks of dissipation in spite of the fact that
the man could not have been much past thirty years old. He was a
stranger to the policeman, although the latter had been on this
beat for over three years.

When the guardian of the law had convinced himself that there was
nothing more to do for the man who lay there, he rose from his
stooping position and stepped back. His gaze wandered up and down
the quiet lane, which was still absolutely empty of human life.
He stood there quietly waiting, watching over the ghastly discovery.
In about ten minutes the police commissioner and the coroner,
followed by two roundsmen with a litter, joined the solitary watcher,
and the latter could return to his post.

The policemen set down their litter and waited for orders, while
the coroner and the commissioner bent over the corpse. There was
nothing for the physician to do but to declare that the unfortunate
man had been dead for many hours. The bullet which struck him in
the back had killed him at once. The commissioner examined the
ground immediately around the corpse, but could find nothing that
pointed to a struggle. There remained only to prove whether there
had been a robbery as well as a murder.

"Judging from the man's position the bullet must have come from
that direction," said the commissioner, pointing towards the
cottages down the lane.

"People who are killed by bullets may turn several times before
they fall," said a gentle voice behind the police officer. The