"You are right," said Lord Linleigh.
Then, with the same skill and care, he examined every other detail. The earl told him about the knife.
"It is, you perceive," he said, "a pruning-knife. It was fetched from one of the hot-houses yesterday, to cut some branches Lady Studleigh said darkened her room. I saw it yesterday afternoon lying on that table, when I had come to speak to my daughter. Would to Heaven I had taken it away with me!"
Captain Ayrley looked very thoughtful.
"If that be the case, then it is quite evident the person did not come prepared to do murder! it must have been an afterthought."
"Perhaps my daughter made some resistance—tried to call for help, or something of that kind," said the earl.
Still the captain looked puzzled.
"Why not have called for help while these things were being destroyed?" he said. "I am sure there is a mystery in it, something that does not quite meet the eye at the first glance. Will you call Lady Studleigh's maid. Throw—throw a sheet over there first; that is not a fitting sight for any woman's eye."
Then came Eugenie, with many tears and wailing cries. She had nothing to tell, except that last evening her lady had, for the first time, spoken to her of her marriage, and had shown her the wedding costume.
"I took up the dress and looked at it," she said, "then I laid it over that chair. My lady wanted to see how large the veil was. I opened it, and we placed it on this chair: the wreath lay in a small scented box on the table. I remember seeing the knife there; it was left yesterday after the branches were cut. My lady told me to take it back, but I forgot it."