passed through the Terrace Room and into the Oak Parlour that leads off it. Legends attached to the Oak Parlour include one of Charles I hiding in a priest hole there; duels taking place, with the bullet holes still in the wall; and a strange stain on the floor which reappears even when the wood is replaced. The people on the stairs heard the door lock behind him and then a shot. They could not get into the Oak Parlour so they broke the door down to find the body with curiously little blood coming from it. Alix, Lord Charnley's widow, was pregnant and when their son was born, he automatically inherited, so no others gained by this death. Satterthwaite receives an unexpected guest – Aspasia Glen, the celebrated performer. She wants to buy "The Dead Harlequin". Satterthwaite is pleased when Alix Charnley telephones him part way through their conversation, also wanting to buy the picture. Satterthwaite asks Alix Charnley to come round to the house immediately. He introduces Miss Glen to his other guests and is not surprised to see that Mr Quin has arrived. When Alix joins them, she recognises Miss Glen. They relive that dreadful night and now, after fourteen years, Alix reveals that the reason for the suicide was a letter Lord Charnley received from a guest telling him that she was pregnant by him – just a month after his marriage to Alix. Monkton thinks that explains all, but Satterthwaite wants to know why Bristow's picture portrays the dead figure in the Terrace Room and not in the Oak Parlour. This suicide may be a murder. He thinks the death occurred there and the body was put in the Oak Parlour afterwards. Satterthwaite points out the figure seen in fancy dress could have been anyone. The only person who called him "Lord Charnley" was the woman who was allegedly pregnant by him, Monica Ford, in league with Hugo Charnley, hoping to be the Lord himself. A shot fired in the locked room would be just another bullet hole in the wall like those created by past duels, and there is a priest hole to hide the person just seen entering the room. Any bloodstain on the floor of the Terrace Room would have been covered by a red Bokhara rug which was placed there on that night only, and the body then moved into the