“Yes,” Major Freeman agreed, “and also of the suicide theory.  The question now is—­who was the person who was seen descending from the window?”

“Could this girl tell whether it was a man or a woman?” The question came from Henshaw, who had hitherto kept silent.

“She thinks it was a man,” Major Freeman answered, “but could not swear to it.  The fact of the object being close to the wall made it almost impossible in the imperfect light to distinguish plainly.  But I think we may take it that it was a man.  The feat could be hardly one a woman would undertake.”

“No,” Gifford agreed.  “And there would seem little chance of identifying the person.”

“None at all so far as the girl Haynes is concerned,” Major Freeman replied.  “But we have something to go upon; a starting point for a new line of inquiry.  The person seen escaping must have lowered himself by a rope from that top window and a considerable length would be required.  I have taken the liberty, Mr. Morriston, of setting a party of my men to search the grounds for the rope; they will begin by dragging the little lake.”

“By all means,” Morriston assented.

“Detective Sprules,” the chief proceeded, “would like to make another examination of the ironwork of the window.  May he go up now?”

“Certainly,” Morriston answered, and the detective left the room.

Gifford spoke.  “The girl saw nothing of the escaping person after he reached the ground?”

“Nothing, she says,” Major Freeman answered.  “But the base of the tower was in deep shadow, which would prevent that.”

“A pity her curiosity was not a little more practical,” Henshaw observed.

“Yes.”  Gifford turned to him.  “You are proved correct, Mr. Henshaw, in your repudiation of the suicide idea.  Perhaps, in view of this latest development, you may have knowledge to go upon of some one from whom your brother might have apprehended danger?”

Henshaw’s set face gave indication of nothing but a studied reserve.  “No one certainly,” he answered coolly, “from whom he might apprehend danger to his life.”

“There must have been a motive for the act,” Kelson observed.  “Unless it was a sudden quarrel.”

“There appears,” Major Freeman put in, “to be no evidence whatever of anything leading up to that.”

“No; the cause is so far quite mysterious,” Henshaw said.

It seemed to Gifford that there was something of undisclosed knowledge behind his words, and he fell to wondering how far the motive was mysterious to him.

Morriston proceeded to acquaint Major Freeman with the discovered cause of the marks on the ladies’ dresses, and they all went off to the lower room where the position of the stains was pointed out.  Edith Morriston was no longer there.

“Miss Tredworth sat at this end of the sofa,” Morriston explained, “and so the marks on her dress are clearly accounted for.”