me show you a light."

He flashed his lamp into the dark corner, and I was able to see
distinctly the portentously large holes into which the bolts had fitted,
and also to note the remarkable neatness with which they had been
plugged.

"There was a second door, I remember," said I. "Let us see if that was
guarded in a similar manner."

We strode through the empty room, awakening dismal echoes as we trod the
bare boards, and flung open the other door. At top and bottom, similar
groups of screw-holes showed that this also had been made secure, and
that these bolts had been of the same very substantial character as the
others.

Thorndyke turned away from the door with a slight frown.

"If we had any doubts," said he, "as to what has been going on in this
house, these traces of massive fastenings would be almost enough to
settle them."

"They might have been there before Weiss came," I suggested. "He only
came about seven months ago and there is no date on the screw-holes."

"That is quite true. But when, with their recent fixture, you couple the
facts that they have been removed, that very careful measures have been
taken to obliterate the traces of their presence, and that they would
have been indispensable for the commission of the crime that we are
almost certain was being committed here, it looks like an excess of