dead were. Our precautions will preclude any possibility of foul play from a material assault. And, needless to say, we contemplate no other. We are free agents, and I should not quarrel with any among us who shirked; but duty is duty, and we have all faced dangers as great as this—probably far greater. What you say is most interesting, doctor, and I agree with you, that outside the room we must look for the explanation of these murders—if murders they are. Upon that business we shall start to-morrow. Forgive me for not going into details, because we have our personal methods. They embrace the element of surprise, and, of course, prevent any conversation concerning what we are going to do until we have done it."
"Supposing you are all found dead to-morrow?" asked Dr. Mannering bluntly.
"Then we are all found dead to-morrow; and others will have the satisfaction of finding out why."
"You suspect somebody, yet can absolve nobody?"
"Exactly, Sir Walter. I said pretty much that to the pressmen, who forced themselves in this afternoon. The accursed daily Press of this country has saved the skin of more blackguards than I like to count. Keep them and the photographers away. It ought to be criminal—their interference."
"I ordered that none was to be admitted for a moment."
"It is always very hard to keep them out. They
