We found ourselves in the reception-room,
which was the first room on the right of the hall. The gas was still
burning behind the colored glass and red, silk shades, and when the
daylight streamed in after us it gave the hall a hideously dissipated
look, like the foyer of a theatre at a matinee, or the entrance to an
all-day gambling-hall. The house was oppressively silent, and,
because we knew why it was so silent, we spoke in whispers. When Lyle
turned the handle of the drawing-room door, I felt as though someone
had put his hand upon my throat. But I followed, close at his
shoulder, and saw, in the subdued light of many-tinted lamps, the
body of Chetney at the foot of the divan, just as Lieutenant Sears
had described it. In the drawing-room we found the body of the
Princess Zichy, her arms thrown out, and the blood from her heart
frozen in a tiny line across her bare shoulder. But neither of us,
although we searched the floor on our hands and knees, could find the
weapon which had killed her.
"'For Arthur's sake,' I said, 'I would have given a thousand pounds
if we had found the knife in her hand, as he said we would.'
"'That we have not found it there,' Lyle answered, 'is to my mind the
strongest proof that he is telling the truth, that he left the house
before the murder took place.
Pages:
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325