"The curtains were drawn, sir. I glanced at that when I went into
the room with my father. After being shot at once from outside,
it was possible that we might be again; though I own that I did
not for a moment think that the fellow would return after the hot
chase that I gave him. I suppose after I went in he looked about
and found the ladder; it is likely enough that he would have had
a file with him in case he had any bars to cut through to get into
the house, but to my mind it is more likely that he knew where to
find the ladder without any looking for it; it has hung there as
long as I can remember."

"Yes, sir," the gardener said, "I have worked for the Squire ever
since he came here, and the ladder was bought a week or two after
he took me on, and the Squire settled where it should be hung,
so that it might be handy either in case of fire or if wanted for
a painting job. This aint the first ladder; we got a new one four
years ago."

"It is singular that the man should have known which was the window
of your father's room."

"Very singular," Mark said.

Shortly after the doctor left, and Mark had a long talk with the
magistrate in the library, and told him his reasons for suspecting
that the murderer was Arthur Bastow.

"It certainly looks like it," the magistrate said thoughtfully, after
he had heard Mark's story, "though of course it is only a case of
strong suspicion, and not of legal proof. Your father's recognition