"No strangers, you mean? No, sir."

"Was there any one in his rooms?"

"The housekeeper was in the library. She had gone up-stairs that
way, she said, and had found the door into the main hall locked,
and hearing me come, she waited for me to open it."

"Had you locked the door into the main hall?"

"No, sir; that door wasn't usually locked in the evening. I don't
know who locked it, but I opened it for her and then locked it
again."

"Are you positive there was no one else in those rooms at that time?"

"Yes, sir, pretty sure," replied Hardy, with a smile, "for I looked
them over uncommon thorough last night. I thought at first that I
smelled smoke, like something burning, but I looked around careful
and everything was all right."

At this point Mr. Whitney held a whispered consultation with the
coroner for a moment.

"You say," continued the latter, "you thought you smelled something
burning; could you state what the material seemed to be?"

"Well, sir, I thought it was like paper burning; but I must have
been mistaken, for the papers on the table was all right and there
was nothing in the fireplace."