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304 The house stood in the middle of one of the small sections of Prince's Gate, and the motor stopped, as he had ordered, a couple of doors away.

With his latch-key already in his hand he got out, and then suddenly, to his own astonishment, for his mind was still aloof, he felt that his knees so trembled that he could scarcely walk. But in a moment he commanded himself, and went quietly past the two houses that intervened to his own porch. The windows were all blank and blinded, but then he saw something, a very little thing, that brought all his numbed faculties back to him.

The fanlight above the hall-door was lit.

For one moment he paused there, and for all the chilliness of the night the sweat poured from him. Agonizedly he told himself that the caretaker had forgotten it, that when he put his latchkey into its hole he would find the door bolted and locked. Then, with a hand that no longer trembled, he put the key in, turned it, and the door opened.

The hall was lit. On a chair lay a man's coat and an opera hat. The latter had not been folded up, and on the black silk of the crown, above the maker's name, he saw two initials in gilt, which caught the light.

There was no more thinking to be done. He had contemplated this—just this—so often, that his actions were automatic. He had not yet closed the door, and he went outside and beckoned.

His valet jumped down and came to him.

"Tell him to bring the car opposite the door," he said, "and then stop the engines. I want you both to sit in your places and take notice of what happens. You will not have to do anything; you will just keep your eyes on the door, and see who come out."

He waited on the doorstep till the car had slid up opposite, and then went into the house again, closing the door gently behind him.

It was only for a moment, when he saw the fanlight, that his mind had worked, and now again, as before, it was blank. On the left of the hall was the door of the dining-room, open, and he went in. The room was in darkness, but by the light that came in from the open door he could see that a cloth was laid over a