Lord Loudwater had been stabbed, found nothing, and stood beside it in
quiet thought.

Then he looked at Mr. Manley and said: "The murderer must have been some
one with whom Lord Loudwater was so familiar that he took no notice of
his or her movements, for he came up to him from the front, or walked
round the chair to the front of him, and stabbed him with a quite
straightforward thrust. Lord Loudwater should have actually seen the
knife--unless by any chance he was asleep."

"He was sure to be asleep," said Mr. Manley quickly. "He always did sleep
in the evening--generally from the time he finished his cigar till he
went to bed. I think he acquired the habit from coming back from hunting,
tired and sleepy. Besides, I came down for a drink between eleven and
twelve, and I'm almost sure I heard him snore. He snored like the devil."

"Slept every evening, did he? That puts a different complexion on the
business," said Mr. Flexen. "The murderer need _not_ have been any one
with whom he was familiar."

"No. He need not. But are you quite sure that the wound wasn't
self-inflicted--that it wasn't a case of suicide?" said Mr. Manley.

"No, I'm not; and I don't think that that doctor--what's his name?
Thornhill--can be sure either. But why should Lord Loudwater have
committed suicide?"

"Well, he had found out, or thought he had found out, something about
Lady Loudwater, and was threatening to start an action against her for
divorce. At least, so her maid told me this morning. And as he wholly