me," the doctor said. "I looked at the body--"

"Oh, yes," Robinson sneered. "I'd like to know exactly what time you
found the body."

Graham flushed, but Katherine answered easily:

"About half-past two--the hour at which Mr. Blackburn was killed."

"And I," Robinson sneered, "was aroused at three-thirty. An hour during
which the police were left out of the case!"

"We thought it wise to get a physician first of all," Graham said.

"You knew Howells never had a chance. You knew he had been murdered the
moment you looked at him," Robinson burst out.

"We acted for the best," Graham answered.

His manner impressed silence on Katherine and Bobby.

"We'll see about that later," Robinson said with a clear threat. "If it
doesn't inconvenience you too much we'll go up now."

In the upper hall he snatched the candle from the table.

"Which way?"

Katherine nodded to the old corridor and slipped to her room. Robinson
stepped forward with the coroner at his heels. Bobby, Graham, and the
doctor followed. Inside the narrow, choking passage Bobby saw the
district attorney hesitate.

"What's the matter?" the doctor rumbled.

The district attorney went on without answering. He glanced at the
broken lock.

"So you had to smash your way in?"

He walked to the bed and looked down at Howells.

"Poor devil!" he murmured. "Howells wasn't the man to get caught
unawares. It's beyond me how any one could have come close enough to make
that wound without putting him on his guard."

"It's beyond us, as it was beyond him," Graham answered, "how any one got
into the room at all."

In response to Robinson's questions he told in detail about the discovery
of both murders. Robinson pondered for some time.

"Then you and Mr. Blackburn were asleep," he said. "Miss Perrine aroused
you. This foreigner Paredes was awake and dressed and in the lower hall."

"I think he was in the court as we went by the stair-well," Graham
corrected him.

"I shall want to talk to your foreigner," Robinson said. He shivered.
"This room is like a charnel house. Why did Howells want to sleep here?"

"I don't think he intended to sleep," Graham said. "From the start
Howells was bound to solve the mystery of the entrance of the room. He
came here, hoping that the criminal would make just such an attempt as he
did. He was confident he could take care of himself, get his man, and
clear up the last details of the case."

Robinson looked straight at