e of the shrubs to
crack."

"How was it you did not notice the window was open as you went in?"

"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 of the
voice could have scarcely been accepted as final when he heard but three
words, still the whole thing hangs together. The fellow was, I should
say, capable of anything. I don't know that I ever had a prisoner before
me whose demeanor was so offensive and insolent, and if it can be proved
that Bastow is in England I should certainly accept your view of the
case. He would probably have known both where the ladder was to be found
and which was the window of your father's bedroom."

"I should certainly think that he would know it, sir. The bedroom was
the same that my grandfather used to sleep in, and probably during the
years before we came here young Bastow would have often been over the
house. The first year or two after we came he was often up here with
his father, but I know that my father took such an objection to him, his
manner and language were so offensive, that he would not have m