Trent's Last Case

. Who does not know what it is to feel at times a wave of unaccountable persuasion that it is about to go well with him?-not the feverish confidence of men in danger of a blow f

he library door he seemed to rise into certainty of achievement. A host of guesses and inferences swarmed apparently unsorted through his mind; a few secret observations that he had ma

nts' rooms opened. Martin's room was the exception: it opened out of a small landing half-way to the upper floor. As Trent passed it he glanced within. A little square room, clean and commonplace. In

oor was reached, and he went to it at once. He tried the latch and the lock, whic

em. It gleamed, too, upon the gold parts of the delicate work of dentistry that lay in water in a shallow bowl of glass placed on a small, plain table by the bedside. On this also stood a wrought-iron candlestick. Some clothing lay untidily over one of the two rush-bottomed chairs. Various objects on the top of a chest of dra

uesomeness. His fancy called up a picture of a haggard man dressing himself in careful silence by the first l

he wall on either side of the bed. They contained clothing, a large choice of which had

wall. No boots were among them. Trent, himself an amateur of good shoe-leather, now turned to these, and glanced over the collection with an appreciative eye. It was to be seen that Manderson

selves over a pair of patent-le

ir, he saw at once; he saw, too, that they had been very recently polished. Something about the uppers of these shoes had seized his attention. He bent lower and frown

aintly, and with great precision, an air which Inspect

ng excitement. The inspector had noted that when Trent had picked up a strong scent he whistled faintly a certain melodious passage;

e, and looked minutely at the bottoms. On each, in the angle betwe

tling, he gazed with eyes that saw nothing. Once his lips opened to emit mechanically the Englishman's expletive of sudde

h them carefully. The litter on the dressing-table now engaged his attention for the second time. Then he sat down on the empty chair, took his head in his

ls, handkerchiefs and ribbons, to break the captivity of the drawer. The room was like an unoccupied guest-chamber. Yet in every detail of furniture and decoration it spoke of an unconventional but exacting taste. Trent, as his expert eye noted the various perfection of colour and form amid which the ill-mated lady dreamed her dreams and

n immediately beneath him, separated from the house-wall only by a narrow flower-bed, and stretched away, with an abrupt dip at the farther end, toward the orchard. The other window opened with a sash above th

between the communicating-door and the sash-window, its head against the wall dividing the room from Manderson's. Trent st

d of copper connected by a free wire with the wall. Trent looked at it thoughtfully, then at the switches connected with the other lights in the room. They were, as usual, on the wall just within the door

ted himself, upright and impassive, in the doorway. 'I want you

, sir,' sa

an is she? Has she

has not been with us long, sir, but I have formed the impression that the y

mouth, do you?' said Trent. 'Well, I am not

andered round the little room with his hands at his back. Sooner than h

ion was as great below-stairs as elsewhere) would send for her. For one thing, she felt the need to make a scene; her nerves were overwrought. But her scenes were at a discount with the other domestics,

stake, if she sought to make a good impression at the beginning. It was with an air of amiable candour

me, Célestine, is this. When you took tea to your mistress yesterday morning

tself.' She tripped across to the door, and urged Trent before her into the larger bedroom with a hand on his arm. 'See! I enter the room with the tea like this. I approach the bed. Before I come quite near the bed, here is the door to my right hand-open always-so! But monsieur can perceive that I see nothing in the room of Monsieur Manderson. The door ope

see exactly how it was now,' he said. 'Thank you, Célestine. So Mr. Manderson was supposed to be stil

mons

'Well, Célestine, I am very much obliged to yo

ob of the outer door. She set her teeth with an audible sound, and the colour rose in her small dark face. English departed from her. 'Je ne le regrette pas du tout, du tout!' she cried with a flood of words. 'Madame-ah! je me jetterais au leu pour madame-

oyez-moi. Hang it! Have some common sense! If the inspector downstairs heard you saying that kind of thing, you would get into trouble. And don't wave your fists about so much; you might hit something. You seem,' he went on more pleasantly, as Céles

it regardé!' Célest

n't think. A star upon your birthday burned, whose fierce, serene, red, pulseless planet never

ored her balance. With a sudden flash of her eyes and teeth at Trent ove

irs in the room, then seated himself on the other opposite to this. With his hands in his pockets he sat with eyes fixed upon those two dumb witnesses. Now and then he whistled, almost inaudibly, a few bars. It was very still in the room. A

e quickly to his feet. He replaced the shoes on thei

er to the jumble of heterogeneous objects left on the dressing-table and on the mantelshelf-pipes, penknives, pencils, keys, golf-balls, old letters, photographs, small boxes, tins, and bottles. Two fine etchings and some water-colour sketches hung on the walls; leaning against the end of the wardrob

three youths-one of them unmistakably his acquaintance of the haggard blue eyes-clothed in tatterdemalion soldier's gear of the sixteenth century. Another was a portrait of a majestic old lady, slightly resembl

workmanship, was disclosed, with a score or so of loose c

Murch appeared at the open door of the room. 'I was wondering-' he began; then stopped as he saw what the other was

to the initials. 'I found this lying about on the mantelpiece. It seems a handy little pistol to me, and it ha

But it don't require an expert to tell one thing.' He replaced the revolver in its case on the mantel-shelf, took out one of the cartridges, and laid it on the spacious palm of one hand; then,

t murmured as he bent o

officer, who has just sent it on to me. These bright scratches you see were made by the doctor's instruments. These other marks were made by the rif

is all wrong,' he observed. 'It is insanity. The symptoms of mania are very marked. Let us see how we stand. We were not in any doubt, I believe, about Mand

t all that,' said Mr. Murch, wit

r anybody else, got Manderson to get up, dress himself, and go out into the grounds; that he then and there shot the said Manderson with his incriminating pistol; that he carefully cleaned the said pistol, returned to the house and, again without disturbing any

eory suggested by this find, and it seems wild enough-at least it would do if it didn't fall to pieces at the ver

o you

down his story. He arrived in Southam

about his story? What do you care about his story?

nd wire to our people in Southampton. Manderson had told his wife when he went to bed that he had changed his mind, and sent Marlowe to Southampton to get some important information from some one who was crossing by the next day's boat. It seemed right enough, but, you see, Marlowe was the only one o

NDERSON HAD BATH AND BREAKFAST WENT OUT HEARD OF LATER AT DOCKS ENQUIRING FOR PASSENGER NAME HARRIS ON HAVRE BOAT ENQUIRED REPEATEDLY UNTIL BOAT LEFT AT NOON NEXT HEARD OF AT

e, then strolled back, lunched, and decided to return at once. He sent a wire to Manderson-"Harris not turned up missed boat returning Marlowe," which was duly delivered here in the afternoon, and placed among the dead man's letters. He motored back at

Manderson that Marlowe left his pistol and cartridges about so carelessly,' he remarked at lengt

ho buy a revolver today for self-defence or mischief provide themselves with that make, of that calibre. It is very reliable, and easily carried in the hip-pocket. There must be thousands of them in the possession of crooks

ng to keep that littl

olver, you may as well know about the other. As I say, ne

nd a man stood in the doorway. His eyes turned from the pistol in its open case to the faces of Trent and the inspector. They, wh

Mr. Bunner,