For a moment as he looked round that spacious comfortable room with its long bookcases and easy chairs, and on the tables and mantel-piece a hundred little mementoes of its late owner, the laird of Stanesland was unable to speak a word, and the others respected his silence. Then he pulled himself together sharply and asked: "How did it happen? Tell me all about it!" Perhaps there might have been for a moment in Simon's eye a hint that this demand was irregular, but the superintendent evidently took no exception to the intrusion. Besides being a considerable local magnate and a kinsman of the dead baronet, Stanesland had a forcible personality that stood no gainsaying. "Well, sir," said the superintendent, "Mr. Rattar could perhaps explain best----" "Explain yourself, Sutherland," said Simon briefly. The superintendent pointed to a spot on the carpet a few paces from the door. "We found Sir Reginald lying there," he said. "His skull had been fairly cracked, just over the right eye, sir. The blow would have been enough to kill him I'd think myself, but there were marks in his neck too, seeming to show that the murderer had strangled him afterwards to make sure. However, we'll be having the medical evidence soon. But there's no doubt that was the way of it, and Mr. Rattar agrees with me." The lawyer merely nodded. "What was it done with?" The superintendent pursed his lips and shook his head. "That's one of the mysterious things in the case, sir. There's no sign of any weapon in the room. The fire irons are far too light. But it was an unco' heavy blow. There was little bleeding, but the skull was fair cracked." "Was anything stolen?" "That's another mystery, sir. Nothing was stolen anywhere in the house and there was no papers in a mess like, or anything." "When was he found?" asked Ned. "Seven-fifty this morning, sir," said Bisset. "The housemaid finding the door lockit came to me. I knew the dining-room key fitted this door too, so I opened it--and there he lay." "All night, without any one knowing he hadn't gone to bed?" "That's the unfortunate thing, sir," said the superintendent. "It seems that Sir Reginald had arranged to sleep in his dressing room as he was going to be sitting up late reading." "Murderer must have known that," put in Simon. "Almost looks like it," agreed the superintendent. "And nobody in the house heard or saw anything?" "Nobody, sir," said the superintendent. "That's their statement," added the lawyer in his driest voice. "Was anybody sitting up late?" "Nobody admits it," said the lawyer, again very drily. "Thirteen," said Bisset softly. They turned towards him, but it seemed that he was talking to himself. He was, in fact, quietly taking measurements with a tape. "Go on," said Cromarty briefly.