"I was under the impression that Wellington commanded in Portugal," said Musard. "My grand-uncle was Sir Arthur Wellesley's senior officer, Vincent," responded Miss Heredith. "He arrived in Portugal in 1809 to take command, but Sir Arthur most culpably failed to have horses ready to carry him to the field of battle. In consequence of Sir Arthur's neglect my grand-uncle was compelled to take the next boat back to England. There was a question asked in the Commons of the day about Sir Arthur's conduct. I do not know what the question was, but the answer was in the negative, though I am not quite sure what that means. In any case, my grand-uncle was a greater soldier than Wellington. My mother often heard my grand-aunt say so." "I notice that there are no revolvers or pistols among the weapons on the walls," said Colwyn. "We never had a revolver," replied Phil. "There are a pair of horse pistols in that case," said Musard, pointing to an oblong mahogany box with brass corners, resting on a stand in a niche of the wall. He crossed over to the box and fumbled with the brass snibs, but was unable to open it. "The case is locked," he said. "Perhaps it is only jammed," suggested Phil. "Oh, no, it is locked fast enough. Do you understand anything about locks, Mr. Colwyn?" "You will have to break it open if you have lost the key," said Colwyn, after glancing at the box. "It is an obsolete type of lock." "I should have liked to show you those pistols," said Musard. "They carry as true as a rifle up to fifty yards. Their only drawback is that they are a bit clumsy, and have a heavy recoil." "I wonder where the key is?" remarked Miss Heredith. "I must ask Tufnell about it." "Will you tell me where the revolver practice took place that afternoon?" said Colwyn, turning to Phil. "They were firing from behind the bagatelle board at a target fixed over there," said Phil, pointing to the far wall. "Who proposed the game?" "Nepcote. It was a very wet afternoon, and everybody had to stay indoors. He suggested after tea that it would be a good way of killing the time before dinner. Several of the men and two or three of the girls thought it a capital idea, and a sweepstake was arranged. They asked me for a revolver, but I told them we had not one. One of the officers offered his army revolver, but that was objected to as too heavy and dangerous for indoor shooting. Then Nepcote said that he had a light revolver in his bag, and he went upstairs to get it. He came downstairs with it in his hand, and those who were taking part in the sport went downstairs to the gun-room. I went with them for a while, but I did not stay long." "Captain Nepcote's revolver is not an army weapon?" "Oh, no. It is a very small and slight weapon, nickel-plated, with six chambers. It is so light as to resemble a toy." "With a correspondingly light report, I presume. The sound of the target practice would not be heard upstairs?"