"But then you did?"
"Yes," said Humphreys.
The coroner pointed to the table on which a revolver lay.
"Is that the weapon?"
Humphreys took it up and looked at the handle, on which two initials were engraved--"A. C."
"Yes," said the man. "I recognised it as Mr. Cranfield's. He kept it in a drawer by his bedside."
No revolver was found amongst Captain Brayton's possessions.
It became clear that, while the three men were talking in the billiard-room, Captain Brayton had gone to Cranfield's room, taken his revolver, and killed himself with it. No evidence, however, was produced which supplied a reason for Brayton's suicide. His affairs were in good order, his means sufficient, his prospects of advancement in his career sound. Nor was there a suggestion of any private unhappiness. The tragedy, therefore, was entered in that list of mysteries which are held insoluble.
"I might," said Chalmers, "perhaps resume the argument which Humphreys interrupted in the billiard-room, with a better instance than any which I induced--the instance of Captain Brayton."