"Did you secure it as usual, last night?"

"I did, sir."

"Who unfastened it this morning?"

"I, sir."

"How did you find it?"

"Just as I left it."

"What, not a window open nor a door unlocked?"

"No, sir."

By this time you could have heard a pin drop. The certainty that the
murderer, whoever he was, had not left the house, at least till after it
was opened in the morning, seemed to weigh upon all minds. Forewarned as
I had been of the fact, I could not but feel a certain degree of emotion
at having it thus brought before me; and, moving so as to bring the
butler's face within view, searched it for some secret token that he had
spoken thus emphatically in order to cover up some failure of duty
on his own part. But it was unmoved in its candor, and sustained the
concentrated gaze of all in the room like a rock.

Being now asked when he had last seen Mr. Leavenworth alive, he replied,
"At dinner last night."

"He was, however, seen later by some of you?"

"Yes, sir; Mr. Harwell says he saw him as late as half-past ten in the
evening."

"What room do you occupy in this house?"

"A little one on the basement floor."

"And where do the other members of the household sleep?"

"Mostly on the third floor, sir; the ladies in the large back rooms, and
Mr. Harwell in the little one in front. The girls sleep above."

"There was no one on the same floor with Mr. Leavenworth?"

"No, sir."

"At what hour did you go to bed?"

"Well, I should say about eleven."

"Did you hear any noise in the house either before or after that time,
that you remember?"

"No, sir."

"So that the discovery you made this morning was a surprise to you?"

"Yes, sir."

Requested now to give a more detailed account of that discovery, he
went on to say it was not till Mr. Leavenworth failed to come to his
breakfast at the call of the bell that any suspicion arose in the house
that all was not right. Even then they waited some little time before
doing anything, but as minute after minute went by and he did not come,
Miss Eleanore grew anxious, and finally left the room saying she would
go and see what was the matter, but soon returned looking very much
frightened, saying she had knocked at her uncle's door, and had even
called to him, but could get no answer. At which Mr. Harwell and himself
had gone up and together tried both doors, and, finding them locked,
burst open that of the library, when they came upon Mr. Leavenwort