And while he hurried into his clothes and afterwards ate a crust of bread and drank a cup of coffee, Samuels told his story. In brief, what had occurred was this. The housemaid, coming to lay the study fire, had discovered her master lying huddled together on the hearth-rug. As she approached with her candle, a glance had showed her a streak of blood in his grey hair. She had screamed, rushed up to Samuels and given the alarm. He had come down, seen the body, recognised that life was extinct, had sent out at once for a doctor and a policeman. Pending their arrival, he had caused Miss Hart to be roused by her maid, and had remained in the study to prevent any of the servants disturbing the arrangements of the room. Miss Hart had come downstairs, wild with terror, and had fainted away, so that she had to be carried up to bed again. The policeman had come in the course of a few minutes, followed soon afterwards by the doctor, who was a near neighbour. Then the Inspector had arrived, and later a Scotland Yard official, and they were at present engaged in investigations. There did not seem to be the slightest clue. It was an awful mystery.
“And Miss Hart—how was she when you left?” asked Hugh, as they went down the steps of the mansion.
“It seems she came to very soon, sir,” answered Samuels, “and then she would dress and come down, and now she’s bearing up wonderfully. It was she and the Inspector that agreed you were to be fetched, as you were the last person—except the other—that saw him alive.”
“Yes,” said Hugh, “I remember him telling you to go to bed.”
“Oh, I saw him again after that, sir, when he went upstairs.”
“Then how could I be the last? Besides I thought he was found in the study—I don’t follow you.”
“He went upstairs to get something from his bedroom safe—and then went down again. I was seeing to the fire in his room—and he told me again to go to bed. I thought you were still there, sir.”
“What time was that?” Hugh asked, sharply.
“That was five minutes to twelve.”
“Oh, I left him at half-past eleven,” said Hugh.