'No. And I suppose you sleep with your window open, these warm nights?'

'It is never closed at night, sir.'

Trent added a last note; then he looked thoughtfully through those he had
taken. He rose and paced up and down the room for some moments with a downcast
eye. At length he paused opposite Martin.

'It all seems perfectly ordinary and simple,' he said. 'I just want to get a
few details clear. You went to shut the windows in the library before going to
bed. Which windows?'

'The French window, sir. It had been open all day. The windows opposite the
door were seldom opened.'

'And what about the curtains? I am wondering whether any one outside the house
could have seen into the room.'

'Easily, sir, I should say, if he had got into the grounds on that side. The
curtains were never drawn in the hot weather. Mr. Manderson would often sit
right in the doorway at nights, smoking and looking out into the darkness. But
nobody could have seen him who had any business to be there.'

'I see. And now tell me this. Your hearing is very acute, you say, and you
heard Mr. Manderson enter the house when he came in after dinner from the
garden. Did you hear him re-enter it after returning from the motor drive?'

Martin paused. 'Now you mention it, sir, I remember that I did not. His
ringing the bell in this room was the first I knew of his being back. I should
have heard him come in, if he had come in by the front. I should have heard