to-night?"

"From the House of Commons."

"You came direct?"

"I left Sir Brian Malpas at the corner of Victoria Street at four
minutes to twelve by Big Ben, and walked straight home, actually
entering here, from the street, as the clock was chiming the last stroke
of midnight."

"Then you would have walked up the street from an easterly direction?"

"Certainly."

"Did you meet any one or anything?"

"A taxi-cab, empty--for the hood was lowered--passed me as I turned the
corner. There was no other vehicle in the street, and no person."

"You don't know from which door the cab came?"

"As I turned the corner," replied Exel, "I heard the man starting his
engine, although when I actually saw the cab, it was in motion; but
judging by the sound to which I refer, the cab had been stationary,
if not at the door of Palace Mansions, certainly at that of the next
block--St. Andrew's Mansions."

"Did you hear, or see anything else?"