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She did not see him, but she says that she could not be mistaken in his quick, firm tread.

She did not hear the study door close, but a minute or so later there was a dreadful cry in the room below.

It was a wild, hoarse scream, so strange and unnatural that it might have come either from a man or a woman.

At the same instant there was a heavy thud, which shook the old house, and then all was silence.

The maid stood petrified for a moment, and then, recovering her courage, she ran downstairs.

The study door was shut, and she opened it.

Inside young Mr. Willoughby Smith was stretched upon the floor.

At first she could see no injury, but as she tried to raise him she saw that blood was pouring from the underside of his neck.

It was pierced by a very small but very deep wound, which had divided the carotid artery.

The instrument with which the injury had been inflicted lay upon the carpet beside him.

It was one of those small sealing-wax knives to be found on old-fashioned writing-tables, with an ivory handle and a stiff blade.

It was part of the fittings of the Professor's own desk.

"At first the maid thought that young Smith was already dead, but on pouring some water from the carafe over his forehead he opened his eyes for an instant.

The Professor,' he murmured - 'it was she.' The maid is prepared to swear that those were the exact words.

He tried desperately to say something else, and he held his right hand up in the air.

Then he fell back dead.

"In the meantime the housekeeper had also arrived upon the scene, but she was just too late to catch the young man's dying words.

Leaving Susan with the body, she hurried to the Professor's room.

He was sitting up in bed horribly agitated, for he had heard enough to convince him that something terrible had occurred.

Mrs. Marker is prepared to swear that the Professor was still in his night-clothes, and, indeed, it was impossible for him to dress without the help of Mortimer, whose orders were to come at twelve o'clock.

The Professor declares that he heard the distant cry, but that he knows nothing more.

He can give no explanation of the young man's last words, 'The Professor - it was she,' but imagines that they were the outcome of delirium.

He believes that Willoughby Smith had not an enemy in the world, and can give no reason for the crime.

His first action was to send Mortimer the gardener for the local police.

A little later the chief constable sent for me.

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