He knelt by the
body and was busy for a moment applying other tests; then he rose
again, and said, with a sort of confident despair:
"Lord Hastings is dead."
There was a stony silence, and then Travers remarked, gruffly: "This
is your department, Grayne; I will leave you to question Captain
Boyle. I can make no sense of what he says."
Boyle had pulled himself together and risen to his feet, but his
face still wore an awful expression, making it like a new mask or
the face of another man.
"I was looking at the well," he said, "and when I turned he had
fallen down."
Grayne's face was very dark. "As you say, this is my affair," he
said. "I must first ask you to help me carry him to the library and
let me examine things thoroughly."
When they had deposited the body in the library, Grayne turned to
Fisher and said, in a voice that had recovered its fullness and
confidence, "I am going to lock myself in and make a thorough
examination first. I look to you to keep in touch with the others
and make a preliminary examination of Boyle. I will talk to him
later. And just telephone to headquarters for a policeman, and let
him come here at once and stand by till I want him."
Without more words the great criminal investigator went into the
lighted library, shutting the door behind him, and Fisher, without
replying, turned and began to talk quietly to Travers.
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