“A moment,” interposed the Inspector. “What time was that?” “A little after five. The tea gong had gone some time. I was going to the library to tell Mr. Parrish that tea was ready ...” Mr. Humphries made a note. He nodded to show he was listening. “I crossed the hall and went down the library corridor. I knocked on the library door. There was no reply. Then I heard a shot and a sort of thud.” Despite her effort to remain calm, the girl’s voice shook a little. She made a little helpless gesture of her hands. A diamond ring she was wearing on her finger caught the light and blazed for an instant. “Then I got frightened. I ran back along the corridor to the lounge where the others were and told them.” “When you knocked at the door, you say there was no reply. I suppose, now, you tried the handle first.” “Oh, yes ...” “Then Mr. Parrish would have heard the two sounds? The turning of the handle and then the knocking on the door? That’s so, isn’t it?” “Yes, I suppose so ...” “Yet you say there was no reply?” “No. None at all.” The Inspector jotted a word or two in his notebook as it lay open flat upon the table. “The shot, then, was fired immediately after you had knocked? Not while you were knocking?” “No. I knocked and waited, expecting Mr. Parrish to answer. Instead of him answering, there came this shot ...” “I see. And after the shot was fired there was a crash?” “A sort of thud—like something heavy falling down.” “And you heard no groan or cry?” The girl knit her brows for a moment. “I ... I ... was frightened by the shot. I ... I ... don’t seem able to remember what happened afterwards. Let me think ... let me think ...” “There, there,” said the Inspector paternally, “don’t upset yourself like this. Just try and think what happened after you heard the shot fired ...” Mary Trevert shuddered, one slim white hand pressed against her cheek. “I do remember now,” she said, “there _was_ a cry. It was more like a sharp exclamation ...” “And then you heard this crash?” “Yes ...” The girl had somewhat regained her self-possession. She dabbed her eyes with her handkerchief quickly as though ashamed of her weakness. “Now,” said Humphries, clearing his throat, as though to indicate that the conversation had changed, “you and Lady Margaret Trevert knew Mr. Parrish pretty well, I believe, Miss Trevert. Have you any idea why he should have done this thing?” Mary Trevert shook her dark head rather wearily. “It is inconceivable to me ... to all of us,” she answered. “Do you happen to know whether Mr. Parrish had any business worries?” “He always had a great deal of business on hand and he has had a great deal to do lately over some big deal.” “What was it, do you know?” “He was raising fresh capital for Hornaway’s—that is the big engineering firm he controls ...” “Do you know if he was pleased with the way things were shaping?”