"Did you come into the house last night by the front door, or
through the garden?"

"Through the garden, sir. I walked down the Promenade from the
theatre."

"And you didn't notice anything - you saw no traces of footsteps?"

"No, sir. I didn't notice anything unusual. We shut the side
door, the garden door, every evening, also. It was closed
yesterday and I found the key - we've only got one key to the
garden door - in the same place where I was told to hide it when
I went out in the evening."

"What place was that?"

"In one of the pails by the well."

"You say you were told to hide it there?"

"Yes, sir; the Professor told me. He'd go out in the evening
sometimes, too, I suppose, and he wanted to be able to come in that
way if necessary."

"And no one else knew where the key was hidden?"

"No one else, sir. It's nearly a year now that we've been alone in
the house. Who else should know of it?"

"When you looked through the keyhole last night, are you sure that