"Out of the night, and into the light,  
Comes the doer of evil deeds.
Out of the light, and into the night,
With a sin on his soul he speeds.
But the is sown, and the tree is grown,
That will hang him high as a murderer known,
 
Himself hath planted the seeds."
 
 
To be an amateur detective requires a certain amount of capital. There are people "who know" to be discovered, and a search after them cannot be successfully conducted without money; and when the people "who know" are brought under the eye of the inquirer, they frequently decline to speak unless well paid for their information. Money, therefore, is essential to the success of solving a mystery, and when Archie Maxwell sat down calmly to consider the aspect of affairs, he found himself at once face to face with the question of funds.
 
He was young, he had talents, he had a profession; so with all these endowments looked forward to making a fortune, which is the ambition of every well-constituted youth in this age of gold. Unfortunately, like the magical of Mephistopheles, time is required to make money, and as every moment was of importance in finding out the mystery of Sir Rupert's death, Archie could not waste four or five years in getting together sufficient to his . It was true that he was engaged to go out to Buenos Ayres at the end of the year, but the firm who employed him were hard to deal with, and refused to let him draw in advance of his salary. Toby was not well off, so he could not apply to him for aid, besides which that young man was already on his way to the Antipodes; so Mr. Maxwell found himself with comparatively little money in the bank and a difficult case to solve without funds.
 
Luckily Archie was of a very nature, and hopeful in a Micawberish sense of "something turning up;" so making up his mind to at all events make a start in the affair, he collected all the newspaper reports of the inquest, and made himself acquainted with the ins and outs of the baronet's death.
 
It appeared, from the evidence of the butler, that on the night of the murder Sir Rupert had informed him that he would be sitting up late in his study, looking over some papers, and that the household could go to bed at their usual time. Sir Rupert appeared cheerful, but somewhat , and went into his study shortly after dinner. The butler, according to his instructions, locked up all the house, leaving the hall lamp burning for Sir Rupert to put out, and then, with the rest of the servants, to rest. He heard no pistol-shot, no sounds of any one being in the house, and knew nothing about the terrible event which had taken place until the next morning.
 
The housemaid stated that she had entered the study, according to her usual custom, to put it to rights, and had there found the body of her master lying half in and half out of the French window, which was open. Her of terror brought her fellow-servants to the spot, and the police were sent for but she knew nothing more.
 
Miss Pethram that her father had said good-night to her shortly after dinner, and had retired to his study to attend to some business. She remained in the drawing-room for some time with Mr. Dombrain, her father's , who was then staying in the house, and retired to bed about nine o'clock, as she had a bad headache. She had heard no pistol-shot during the night There was nothing in her father's demeanour that led her to think he suicide.
 
Mr. Dombrain, the dead man's solicitor, said that he had come down to Thornstream in order to witness the signing of Sir Rupert's will. The signing took place in the afternoon, and at night the baronet went to his study to look over some papers. He (witness) offered to accompany him, but Sir Rupert refused, as he said it was not necessary. Miss Pethram retired to bed about nine o'clock, and as he was left alone, he also retired half an hour afterwards. Sir Rupert never gave him the least idea that he contemplated suicide--in fact, on the night of the murder he seemed very cheerful. Witness was a very heavy , but he certainly had heard no pistol-shot during the night, and it was only next morning that he learned about the crime.
 
Mrs. Belswin, chaperon to Miss Pethram, gave her evidence, which was rather important, as she was the last person who saw Sir Rupert alive. She had been engaged when Sir Rupert was in New Zealand, and on his arrival had gone up to London on business. She only returned on the day when the crime was committed, and went to see Sir Rupert in his study between eight and ni............