The other made a perfunctory examination, went into every corner, tapped the walls and stared at the ceiling.  The clean morning light showed its intricate pattern of interwoven circles converging from the walls to the centre, and so creating a sense of a lofty dome instead of a flat surface.  In the centre was a boss of a conventional lily flower opening its petals.

“The room should not be touched till after the inquest, I think.  Indeed, if I may advise, you will do well to leave it just as it is for the police to see.”

“They will want to see it, I imagine?”

“Unless you communicate direct with Scotland Yard, ask for a special inquiry, and beg that the local men are not employed.  There is reason in that, for it is quite certain that nobody here would be of any greater use to you than they were before.”

“Act for me then, please.  Explain that money is no object, and ask them to send the most accomplished and experienced men in the service.  But they are only concerned with crime.  This may be outside their scope.”

“We cannot say as to that.  We cannot even assert that this is not a crime.  We know nothing.”

“A crime needs a criminal, Mannering.”

“That is so; but what would be criminal, if human agency were responsible for it, might, nevertheless, be the work of forces to which the word criminal cannot be applied.”

Sir Walter stared at him.

“Is it possible you suggest a supernatural cause for this?”

The doctor shook his head.

“Emphatically not, though I am not a materialist, as you are aware.  My generation of practitioners has little difficulty in reconciling our creed with our cult, though few of the younger men are able to do so, I admit.  But science is science, and not for a moment do I imagine anything supernatural here.  I think, however, there are unconscious forces at work, and those responsible for setting those forces in action would be criminals without a doubt, if they knew what they were doing.  The man who fires a rifle at an animal, if he hits and kills it, is the destroyer, though he may operate from half a mile away.  On the other hand, the agents may be unconscious of what they are doing.”

“There is no human being in this house for whom I would not answer.”

“I know it.  We beat the wind.  It will be time enough to consider presently.  Indeed, I should rather that you strove to relieve your mind of the problem.  You have enough to do without that.  Leave it to those professionally trained in such mysteries.  If a man is responsible for this atrocious thing, then it should be within the reach of man’s wits to find him.  We failed before; but this time no casual examination of this place, or the antecedents of your son-in-law’s life, will serve the purpose.  We must go to the bottom, or, rather, skilled minds, trained to do so, must go to the bottom.  They will approach the subject from a different angle.  They will come unprejudiced and unperturbed.  If there has been foul play, they will find it out.  In my opinion it is incredible that they will be baffled.”