in front of it," she said.

"So I observed. You allowed the quarter of an hour to elapse before
you raised the alarm?"

"Certainly, I had promised," was the response.

"But a promise extorted by threats of violence is not binding," he
suggested as he pulled meditatively at his right ear.

"It is with me," was the cold retort.

He inclined his head slightly.

"I notice that the ground beneath the windows has been roped off."

"The inspector thought it had better be done, as there were
footprints."

"I will not trouble you further for the present, Lady Glanedale,"
said Malcolm Sage, moving towards the door. "I should like to spend
a little time in the grounds. Later I may require to interrogate the
servants."

Young Glanedale opened the door and his stepmother, followed by
Malcolm Sage, passed out. They descended the stairs together.

"Please don't trouble to come out," said Malcolm Sage. "I shall
probably be some little time," this as Lady Glanedale moved towards
the hall-door. "By the way," he said, as she turned towards the
morning-room where she had received him, "did you happen to notice
if the man was wearing boots, or was he in stockinged feet?"

"I think he wore boots, she said, after a momentary pause.

"Thank you," and Malcolm Sage turned towards the door, which was
held open by the butler.

Passing down the steps and to the left, he walked round to the side
of the house, where the space immediately beneath Lady Glanedale's
windows had been roped off.

Stepping over the protecting rope, he examined the ground beneath
the window through which the burglar had entered.

Running along the side of the house was a flowerbed some two feet
six inches wide, and on its surface was clearly indicated a series
of footprints. On the side of the painted water-pipe were scratches
such as might have been made by someone climbing up to the window
above.

Drawing a spring metal-rule from his pocket, he proceeded to take a
series of measurements, which he jotted down in a notebook.

He next examined the water-pipe up which the man presumably had
climbed, and presently passed on to a similar pipe farther to the
left. Every inch of ground he subjected to a careful and elaborate
examination, lifting the lower branches of some evergreens and
gazing beneath them.

Finally, closing his notebook with a snap, Malcolm Sage seated
himself upon a garden-seat and, carefully filling and lighting his
pipe, he became abs