upon that floor were shuttered. No light gleamed anywhere. I then
left the garden, closing the gate behind me. I heard a clock
strike the hour a few minutes afterwards, so that I can be sure of
the time. It was now eleven o'clock. I came round a third time an
hour after, and to my astonishment I found the gate once more
open. I had left it closed and the house shut up and dark. Now it
stood open! I looked up to the windows and I saw that in a room on
the second floor, close beneath the roof, a light was burning
brightly. That room had been dark an hour before. I stood and
watched the light for a few minutes, thinking that I should see it
suddenly go out. But it did not: it burned quite steadily. This
light and the gate opened and reopened aroused my suspicions. I
went again into the garden, but this time with greater caution. It
was a clear night, and, although there was no moon, I could see
without the aid of my lantern. I stole quietly along the drive.
When I came round to the front door, I noticed immediately that
the shutters of one of the ground-floor windows were swung back,
and that the inside glass window which descended to the ground
stood open. The sight gave me a shock. Within the house those
shutters had been opened. I felt the blood turn to ice in my veins
and a chill crept along my spine. I thought of that solitary light
burning steadily under the roof. I was convinced that something
terrible had happened."

"Yes, yes. Quite so," said Hanaud. "Go on, my friend."

"The interior of the room gaped black," Perrichet resumed. "I
crept up to the window at the side of the wall and dashed my
lantern into the room. The window, however, was in a recess which
opened into the room through an arch, and at each side of the arch