"That settles it," muttered Furneaux. "The scoundrel fixed it to a thick branch, aimed it carefully on more than one occasion--look at the sights, set for four hundred yards--and fired it by pulling a cord from his bedroom window when he saw his father occupying the exact position where the sighting practiced on Monday and Tuesday showed that a fatal wound would be inflicted. The remaining length of cord was stronger than this packing thread, which was bound to give way first when force was applied.... Well, that side of the question didn't bother us much, did it, Winter?" "May I ask who you're talking about?" inquired Robert Fenley hoarsely. "About that precious rogue, your half brother," was the answer. "That is why he went to his bedroom, one window of which looks out on the park and the other on the east front, where he watched his father standing to light a cigar before entering the motor. He laid the cord before breakfast, knowing that Miss Manning's habit of bathing in the lake would keep gardeners and others from that part of the grounds. When the shot was fired he pulled in the cord----" "I saw him doing that," interrupted Trenholme, who, after one glance at the signs of his handiwork on Robert Fenley's left jaw, had devoted his attention to the extraordinary story revealed by the detectives. "You _saw_ him!" And Furneaux wheeled round in sudden wrath. "Why the deuce didn't you tell me that?" "You never asked me." "How could I ask you such a thing? Am I a necromancer, a wizard, or eke a thought reader?" Trenholme favored the vexed little man with a contemplative look. "I think you are all those, and a jolly clever art critic as well," he said. Furneaux was discomfited, and Winter nearly laughed. But the matter at issue was too important to be treated with levity. "Tell us now what you saw, Mr. Trenholme," he said. "When the shot was fired, I recognized it as coming from a high-velocity rifle," said the artist. "I was surprised that such a weapon should be used in an enclosed park of this nature, and looked toward the house to discover whether or not any heed would be given to the incident there. From where I was seated I could see the whole of the south front, but not the east side, where the brass fittings of the automobile alone were visible, glinting through and slightly above a yew hedge.