They all turned round, and there stood Florry, with one hand clasped over her heart, and the other grasping a chair to steady herself by. "Sebastian," she whispered, with white lips, "is--is he dead?" Roger turned his head. "Dead!" she cried, with a cry of terror. "Dead--murdered!" and fell fainting on the floor. Chapter 9 A Terrible Suspicion Eight o'clock in the evening by the remarkably incorrect clock on the mantelpiece, eight-thirty by Mr. Fanks' watch, which was never wrong, and that gentleman was seated in a private room of the "Foundryman Hotel" waiting the arrival of Roger Axton. The "Foundryman" was not a first-class hotel, nor was the private room a first-class apartment, but it was comfortable enough, and Mr. Fanks was too much worried in his own mind to pay much attention to his personal wants. He was much disturbed about his old schoolfellow, as everything now seemed to point to Axton as a possible murderer--the conversation at Jarlchester, the evidence of Dr. Japix, the delicately insinuated suspicions of Judas--it seemed as though no doubt could exist but that Roger Axton was the person responsible for the death of Sebastian Melstane. In spite, however, of all this circumstantial evidence, the detective hoped against hope, and resolved within his own honest heart not to believe Roger guilty until he had heard his explanation of the affair. He knew well that circumstantial evidence was not always to be depended upon, and Axton's prompt arrival in answer to his letter had inspired him with the belief that the young man must be innocent, otherwise he would hardly dare to place himself in a position of such peril. So Mr. Fanks, with the perplexity of his mind showing even in his usually impassive face, sat watch in hand, awaiting Roger's arrival and casting absent glances round the room.