"No, sir."

"Did anybody come in?"

"Oh, no, sir; the front door has a snap-lock. It can't be opened from
the outside without a key."

"So you are perfectly sure that no one either entered or left the
house by the front door while you and Rogers were sitting there?"

"Nor by the back door either, sir; to get out the back way, you have
to pass through the room where we were."

"Where were the other servants?"

"The cook was in the kitchen, sir. This is the housemaid's afternoon
out."

The coroner paused. Godfrey and Simmonds had both listened to this
interrogation, but neither had been idle. They had walked softly
about the room, had looked through a door opening into another room
beyond, had examined the fastenings of the windows, and had ended by
looking minutely over the carpet.

"What is the room yonder used for?" asked Godfrey, pointing to the
connecting door.

"It's a sort of store-room just now, sir," said Parks. "Mr. Vantine
is just back from Europe, and we've been unpacking in there some of