Page:Bentley- Trent's Last Case (Nelson, nd).djvu/82

74 of them out of my mind for the present at least. You will form your own conclusions. As for the establishment, there's the butler and lady's maid, cook, and three other maids, one a young girl. One chauffeur, who's away with a broken wrist. No boy.'

'What about the gardener? You say nothing about that shadowy and sinister figure, the gardener. You are keeping him in the background, Murch. Play the game. Out with him–or I report you to the Rules Committee.'

'The garden is attended to by a man in the village, who comes twice a week. I've talked to him. He was here last on Friday.'

'Then I suspect him all the more,' said Trent. 'And now as to the house itself. What I propose to do, to begin with, is to sniff about a little in this room, where I am told Manderson spent a great deal of his time, and in his bedroom; especially the bedroom. But since we're in this room, let's start here. You seem to be at the same stage of the inquiry. Perhaps you've done the bedrooms already?'

The inspector nodded. 'I've been over Manderson's and his wife's. Nothing to be got there, I think. His room is very simple and bare,