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328 injured himself in this way before firing the shot; it was a part of his plan.

'Though I never perceived that detail, however, it was evident enough as I looked at the body that Manderson had not forgotten, in his last act on earth, to tie me tighter by putting out of court the question of suicide. He had clearly been at pains to hold the pistol at arm's length, and there was not a trace of smoke or of burning on the face. The wound was absolutely clean, and was already ceasing to bleed outwardly. I rose and paced the green, reckoning up the points in the crushing case against me.

'I was the last to be seen with Manderson. I had persuaded him–so he had lied to his wife and, as I afterwards knew, to the butler–to go with me for the drive from which he never returned. My pistol had killed him. It was true that by discovering his plot I had saved myself from heaping up further incriminating facts–flight, concealment, the possession of the treasure. But what need of them, after all? As I stood, what hope was there? What could I do?'

Marlowe came to the table and leaned forward