"You surely are not thinking that--"

"Oh, I have not got so far as suspecting Watson or any of his
companions," said Quarles, "but certain facts force us to keep an open
mind, Wigan. To begin with, there was apparently no struggle before
death. The blow was not so severe that a comparatively weak arm might not
have delivered it, a woman's, for the sake of argument. We may,
therefore, deduct two theories at once. He probably had no suspicion or
fear of the person in whose company he was, and I think the doctor will
endorse our statement if we affirm that he was not in a healthy
condition. Personally, I should credit Henley with a fairly rapid past,
which may account for his companions not looking upon the body with any
particular kindness, as you noticed."

"You seem to have built more on that idea of mine than I
intended," I said.

"I have built nothing at all on it," he answered. "I argue entirely from
the appearance of the dead man. Another point. I looked for some sign
that the dress had been put on after the man was dead. The signs all
point to an opposite conclusion."

"The dress puzzles me," I said.

"Of course, if the doctor were not so certain that death had occurred
during the day, we might place the murder at some time on the previous
night, after the performance, when Henley would naturally be in his
pierrot's dress, but why should he put it on during the day. There was no
rehearsal, I suppose?"