countenance.

 

“How did you know it was the silver table lid?”

 

I was forced to explain in detail—a long, tedious explanation which I would

infinitely rather not have had to make.

 

The inspector heard me to the end.

 

“Was the dagger in its place when you were looking over the contents?” he asked.

 

“I don’t know,” I said. “I can’t say I remember noticing it—but, of course, it

may have been there all the time.”

 

“We’d better get hold of the housekeeper,” remarked the inspector, and pulled

the bell.

 

A few minutes later Miss Russell, summoned by Parker, entered the room.

 

“I don’t think I went near the silver table,” she said, when the inspector had

posed his question. “I was looking to see that all the flowers were fresh. Oh!

yes, I remember now. The silver table was open—which it had no business to be,

and I shut the lid down as I passed.”

 

She looked at him aggressively.