He tossed off his patent leather pumps. ‘The stairs are a bit soiled, I fear, sir,’ I reminded him. He laughed. ‘Ah, yes,’ he said. ‘But I have the very thing.’ The velvet slippers were lying near his bed. He put them on. ‘I shall walk softly in these, Paradise,’ he told me. At the head of the stairs, I stopped him. A sort of fear was in my heart - I am given to that - to having premonitions -“

“You stopped him,” Kirk cut in.

“I did, sir. Respectfully, of course. ‘Are you armed, Sir Frederic?’ I made bold to inquire. He shook his head. ‘No need, Paradise,’ he answered. ‘I fancy our visitor is of the weaker sex.’ And then he went down, sir - to his death.”

They were silent for a moment, pondering the servant’s story.

“We had better go,” said the girl, “and tell the others. Some one must stay here. If it’s not asking too much, Mr. Chan -“

“I am torn with grief to disagree,” Chan answered. “Please pardon me. But for myself, I have keen eagerness to note how this news is taken in the room above.”

“Ah, yes. Naturally.”

“I shall be glad to stay, Miss,” Paradise said.

“Very well,” the girl answered. “Please let me know as soon as Captain Flannery arrives.” She led the way above, and Kirk and the little detective from Honolulu followed.

Barry Kirk’s guests were seated, silent and expectant, in the now brightly lighted living-room. They looked up inquiringly as the three from below entered. Kirk faced them, at a loss how to begin.

“I have dreadful news for you,” he said. “An accident - a terrible accident.” Chan’s eyes moved rapidly about the group and, making their choice, rested finally on the white, drawn face of Eileen Enderby. “Sir Frederic Bruce has been murdered in my office,” Kirk finished.

There was a moment’s breathless silence, and then Mrs. Enderby got to her feet. “It’s the dark,” she cried in a harsh, shrill voice. “I knew it. I knew something would happen when the lights were turned off. I knew it, I tell you -“

Her husband stepped to her side to quiet her, and Chan stood staring not at her, but at Colonel John Beetham.