of the back yard,
and was lighted from the top by a skylight placed on a level with the
ground.

On being admitted again by Mrs. Kebby, and sending that ancient female
to her Augean task of cleansing the house, Lucian descended to the
basement in order to examine kitchen and cellar more particularly. If,
as Diana stated, the ribbon had been knotted loosely about the hilt of
the stiletto, it must have fallen off unnoticed by the assassin when,
weapon in hand, he was retreating from the scene of crime.

"He must have come down here from the sitting-room," mused Denzil, as he
stood in the cool, damp kitchen. "And--as the ribbon was found by Mrs.
Kebby near yonder door--it is most probable that he left the kitchen by
that passage for the cellar. Now it remains for me to find out how he
made his exit from the cellar; and also I must look for the stiletto,
which he possibly dropped in his flight, as he did the ribbon."

While thus soliloquising, Denzil lighted a candle which he had taken the
precaution to bring with him for the purpose of making his underground
explorations. Having thus provided himself with means to dispel the
darkness, he stepped into the door and descended the stone stairs which
led to the cellars.

At the foot of the steps he found himself in a passage running from the
front to the back of the house, and forthwith turned to the right in
order to reach the particular cellar, which was dug out in the manner of
a cave under the back yard.

This, as Lucian ascertained by walking round, was faced with stone and
had bins on all four sides for the storage of wine. Overhead there was a
glass skylight, of which the glass was so dusty and dirty that only a
few rays of light could struggle into the murky depths below. But what
particularly attracted the attention of Denzil was a short wooden ladder
lying on the stone pavement, and which probably was used to reach the
wine in the upper bins.

"And I should not be surprised if it had been used for another purpose,"
murmured Lucian, glancing upward at the square aperture of the skylight.

It struck him as possible that a stranger could enter thereby and
descend by the ladder. To test the truth of this he reared the ladder in
the middle of the cellar so that its top rung rested against the lower
edge of the square overhead. Ascending carefully--for the ladder was by
no means stout--he pushed the glass frame upward and found that it
yielded easily to a moderate