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DOUBLE CUNNING

" I bent over the body and satisfied myself that
there was no life left in it. I must tell you here that
^I did not notice, then or afterwards, the scratches and
marks on the wrists which were taken as evidence of
a struggle with an assailant. But I have no doubt
that Manderson deliberately injured himself in this
way before firing the shot ; it was a part of his plan.
" Though I never perceived that detail, however, it
was evident enough as I looked at the body that Man-
derson had not forgotten, in his last act on earth, to
tie me tighter by putting out of court the question of
suicide. *He had clearly been at pains to hold the
pistol at arm's length, and there was not a trace of
smoke or of burning on the face. The wound was
absolutely clean, and was already ceasing to bleed
outwardly. I rose and paced the green, reckoning up
the points in the crushing case against me.
