Yesterday morning Mrs. Manderson took breakfast about eight in her
sitting-room as usual, and every one supposed that Mr. Manderson was still in
bed and asleep, when Evans came rushing up to the house with the shocking
intelligence.'

'I see,' said Trent. 'And now another thing. You say you slipped the lock of
the front door before going to bed. Was that all the locking-up you did?'

'To the front door, sir, yes; I slipped the lock. No more is considered
necessary in these parts. But I had locked both the doors at the back, and
seen to the fastenings of all the windows on the ground floor. In the morning
everything was as I had left it.'

'As you had left it. Now here is another point--the last, I think. Were the
clothes in which the body was found the clothes that Mr. Manderson would
naturally have worn that day?'

Martin rubbed his chin. 'You remind me how surprised I was when I first set
eyes on the body, sir. At first I couldn't make out what was unusual about the
clothes, and then I saw what it was. The collar was a shape of collar Mr.
Manderson never wore except with evening dress. Then I found that he had put
on all the same things that he had worn the night before--large fronted shirt
and all--except just the coat and waistcoat and trousers, and the brown shoes,
and blue tie. As for the suit, it was one of half a dozen he might have worn.
But for him to have simply put on all the rest just because they were there,
instead of getting out the kind of shirt and things he always wore by day;
well, sir, it was unprecedented. It shows, like some other things, what a
hurry he must have been in when getting up.'

'Of course,' said Trent. 'Well, I think that's all I wanted to know. You have