? ? ? ? "That is very clear. There were no marks, then, though the night was a wet one? The chain of events is certainly one of extraordinary interest. What did you do next?"
? ? ? ? "We examined the room also. There is no possibility of a secret door, and the windows are quite thirty feet from the ground. Both of them were fastened on the inside. The carpet prevents any possibility of a trapdoor, and the ceiling is of the ordinary whitewashed kind. I will pledge my life that whoever stole my papers could only have come through the door."
? ? ? ? "How about the fireplace?"
? ? ? ? "They use none. There is a stove. The bell-rope hangs from the wire just to the right of my desk. Whoever rang it must have come right up to the desk to do it. But why should any criminal wish to ring the bell? It is a most insoluble mystery."
? ? ? ? "Certainly the incident was unusual. What were your next steps? You examined the room, I presume, to see if the intruder had left any traces -- any cigar-end or dropped glove or hairpin or other trifle?"
? ? ? ? "There was nothing of the sort."
? ? ? ? "No smell?"
? ? ? ? "Well, we never thought of that.
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