“So that you weren’t surprised when you saw him coming down?”

“Oh, not a bit.”

“Well, did he say anything?”

“He said, ‘Robert’s here?’ or something of the sort.  I suppose he’d heard the bell, or the voices in the hall.”

“Which way does his bedroom face?  Could he have seen him coming down the drive?”

“He might have, yes.”

“Well?”

“Well, then, I said ‘Yes,’ and he gave a sort of shrug, and said, ‘Don’t go too far away, I might want you’; and then went in.”

“What did you think he meant by that?”

“Well, he consults me a good deal, you know.  I’m his sort of unofficial solicitor in a kind of way.”

“This was a business meeting rather than a brotherly one?”

“Oh, yes.  That’s how he regarded it, I’m sure.”

“Yes.  How long was it before you heard the shot?”

“Very soon.  Two minutes, perhaps.”

The inspector finished his writing, and then regarded Cayley thoughtfully.  Suddenly he said: 

“What is your theory of Robert’s death?”

Cayley shrugged his shoulders.

“You’ve probably seen more than I’ve seen,” he answered.  “It’s your job.  I can only speak as a layman—­and Mark’s friend.”

“Well?”

“Then I should say that Robert came here meaning trouble, and bringing a revolver with him.  He produced it almost at once, Mark tried to get it from him, there was a little struggle perhaps, and it went off.  Mark lost his head, finding himself there with a revolver in his hand and a dead man at his feet.  His one idea was to escape.  He locked the door almost instinctively, and then, when he heard me hammering at it, went out of the window.”

“Y-yes.  Well, that sounds reasonable enough.  What do you say, Mr. Gillingham?”

“I should hardly call it ‘reasonable’ to lose your head,” said Antony, getting up from his chair and coming towards them.

“Well, you know what I mean.  It explains things.”

“Oh, yes.  Any other explanation would make them much more complicated.”

“Have you any other explanation?”

“Not I.”

“Are there any points on which you would like to correct Mr. Cayley?—­anything that he left out after you arrived here?”

“No, thanks.  He described it all very accurately.”

“Ah!  Well now, about yourself.  You’re not staying in the house, I gather?”

Antony explained his previous movements.

“Yes.  Did you hear the shot?”

Antony put his head on one side, as if listening.  “Yes.  Just as I came in sight of the house.  It didn’t make any impression at the time, but I remember it now.”

“Where were you then?”

“Coming up the drive.  I was just in sight of the house.”

“Nobody left the house by the front door after the shot?”

Antony closed his eyes and considered.