A drive of a couple of miles through narrow country lanes brought us to a park gate, which was opened for us by an old lodge-keeper, whose haggard face bore the reflection of some great disaster.  The avenue ran through a noble park, between lines of ancient elms, and ended in a low, widespread house, pillared in front after the fashion of Palladio.  The central part was evidently of a great age and shrouded in ivy, but the large windows showed that modern changes had been carried out, and one wing of the house appeared to be entirely new.  The youthful figure and alert, eager face of Inspector Stanley Hopkins confronted us in the open doorway.

“I’m very glad you have come, Mr. Holmes.  And you, too, Dr. Watson.  But, indeed, if I had my time over again, I should not have troubled you, for since the lady has come to herself, she has given so clear an account of the affair that there is not much left for us to do.  You remember that Lewisham gang of burglars?”

“What, the three Randalls?”

“Exactly; the father and two sons.  It’s their work.  I have not a doubt of it.  They did a job at Sydenham a fortnight ago and were seen and described.  Rather cool to do another so soon and so near, but it is they, beyond all doubt.  It’s a hanging matter this time.”

“Sir Eustace is dead, then?”

“Yes, his head was knocked in with his own poker.”

“Sir Eustace Brackenstall, the driver tells me.”

“Exactly—­one of the richest men in Kent—­Lady Brackenstall is in the morning-room.  Poor lady, she has had a most dreadful experience.  She seemed half dead when I saw her first.  I think you had best see her and hear her account of the facts.  Then we will examine the dining-room together.”

Lady Brackenstall was no ordinary person.  Seldom have I seen so graceful a figure, so womanly a presence, and so beautiful a face.  She was a blonde, golden-haired, blue-eyed, and would no doubt have had the perfect complexion which goes with such colouring, had not her recent experience left her drawn and haggard.  Her sufferings were physical as well as mental, for over one eye rose a hideous, plum-coloured swelling, which her maid, a tall, austere woman, was bathing assiduously with vinegar and water.  The lady lay back exhausted upon a couch, but her quick, observant gaze, as we entered the room, and the alert expression of her beautiful features, showed that neither her wits nor her courage had been shaken by her terrible experience.  She was enveloped in a loose dressing-gown of blue and silver, but a black sequin-covered dinner-dress lay upon the couch beside her.

“I have told you all that happened, Mr. Hopkins,” she said, wearily.  “Could you not repeat it for me?  Well, if you think it necessary, I will tell these gentlemen what occurred.  Have they been in the dining-room yet?”

“I thought they had better hear your ladyship’s story first.”

“I shall be glad when you can arrange matters.  It is horrible to me to think of him still lying there.”  She shuddered and buried her face in her hands.  As she did so, the loose gown fell back from her forearms.  Holmes uttered an exclamation.