Next morning, a few minutes before seven o'clock, Peggy Lown rang the bell and was duly admitted by Mrs. Sweet. It was Peggy's duty to clean the two general offices and the passage, while Mrs. Sweet herself looked after Mr. Hazeldine's and Mr. Avison's rooms. The first thing Peggy did was to draw up the blinds and let more daylight in through the heavily-barred windows. She had got her broom and her pail of water and was about to set to work, when her eye was caught by a splash of something dark on the floor. She stooped to examine it more closely. Was it nothing more than some red ink which had been spilled, or was it blood? Peggy shuddered involuntarily. At this moment she heard Mrs. Sweet's cough in the corridor, so she went and beckoned to her and brought her in and pointed out the stain on the floor without a word. Mrs. Sweet stooped as Peggy had done. "It's blood!" she exclaimed next moment, and the two women looked at each other in mute questioning. Peggy was the first to speak. "Look at these red finger-marks on this drawer," she said. "Why, that's Mr. Brancker's drawer! What can it all mean?" queried Mrs. Sweet. Peggy shook her head. "Perhaps the gentleman has only cut his finger," she ventured to suggest. Mrs. Sweet brightened up. "That must be it; it sent me all of a shake, though, when I set eyes on it," she said. "I shall have some trouble in getting them stains out," remarked Peggy. "I should have thought such a particular gentleman as Mr. Brancker might have tied his handkercher round his finger." But Mrs. Sweet had gone, being in a hurry to get on with her own share of the work. Peggy drew back the fender and fire-irons, and was on the point of sweeping up the hearth, when she was startled by a piercing shriek. "Lord a' mercy! What's that?" she cried, as she let her brush fall and ran out into the corridor. The door of Mr. Hazeldine's room was open. She rushed in. Half way across the floor lay the body of Mrs. Sweet in a dead faint. A few yards further away lay another body, that of Mr. Hazeldine, cold and stark. Not far from it, gleaming brightly in the morning light, lay a long-bladed, murderous-looking knife. CHAPTER VI. THE DISCOVERY. St. Mary's clock was chiming half-past seven when Ephraim Judd, suddenly turning the corner of a street on his way to the Bank, all but ran against Peggy Lown. She was the very woman he was coming thus early to see. He wanted her to get the office floor washed before John Brancker should arrive; but the sight of her white, scared face sent a sudden thrill of terror to his heart. Was anything suspected? Had anything been discovered? were his mental queries, thinking of himself alone. "Oh, Mr. Judd, thank heaven I've met you!" cried Peggy, with a great gasp. "Run to the Bank, sir. There's been murder--murder! Poor Mr. Hazeldine----" But here Peggy caught sight of a policeman at the top of the street, and hurried off without a word more.