"Yes, I did note that. The fellow seemed to think that it was absolutely
conclusive."

"And so would most people; especially in the case of a squint of that
kind. We can all squint towards our noses, but no normal person can turn
his eyes away from one another. My impression is that the presence or
absence, as the case might be, of a divergent squint would be accepted
as absolute disproof of identity. But here we are."

He inserted the key into the wicket of the large gate, and, when we had
stepped through into the covered way, he locked it from the inside.

"Why have you locked us in?" I asked, seeing that the wicket had a
latch.

"Because," he replied, "if we now hear any one on the premises we shall
know who it is. Only one person besides ourselves has a key."

His reply startled me somewhat. I stopped and looked at him.

"That is a quaint situation, Thorndyke. I hadn't thought of it. Why she
may actually come to the house while we are here; in fact, she may be in
the house at this moment."

"I hope not," said he. "We don't particularly want Mr. Weiss to be put
on his guard, for I take it, he is a pretty wide-awake gentleman under
any circumstances. If she does come, we had better keep out of sight. I
think we will look over the house first. That is of the most interest to
us. If the lady does happen to come while we are here, she may stay to