"Yes, but how?" asked Dentham dispiritedly. "First by finding out the position of this room," said Teddy, rising to his feet and glancing round; "two sides of it are bounded by the outside walls, and as they do not appear to me to be thick enough to contain any hiding place, we may be certain that the secret door can be in neither of them--the third wall stands between this room and the passage, so that the same objection applies--now what about the fourth wall in the centre of which is built the chimney?" "There is a room beyond; the same as this," explained Dentham. "In that case the objection applies to the whole four walls," said Rudall ruefully. "What about the roof?" "My bedroom is above it." "Humph! in that case Lancaster cannot certainly have gone heavenward--and the floor?" "There's a cellar below this!" "A cellar!" ejaculated Teddy thoughtfully. "That looks more promising--let us examine the cellar." "I think it would be better to look at the floor first," suggested Olive, "for Adrian can't have got into the cellar without some mode of exit." The floor was of polished wood, consisting of narrow planks laid horizontally, and these were partly covered here and there with Turkish mats. Collecting these in a heap, Teddy and Dentham made a thorough examination, but were quite unable to find any trapdoor through which entrance could have been gained into the cellar. "Is the cellar open to anyone?" asked Rudall rising to his feet and dusting the knees of his trousers. "Yes, sir," answered Dentham quickly. "I'm out and in it a dozen times a day, there's wood and coal stored there." "Doesn't seem much use examining the cellar!" "In that case I fail to see that there can be any secret hiding-place," said Olive in despair. "You are quite sure, Dentham, you did not hear the doctor or Mr. Lancaster leave the room." "Quite sure, mum," replied Dentham decisively, "my room is above, but I wasn't in it, as I came out and looked over the stairs, so if either of 'em left the room I'd have seen as well as heard." "Then," observed Olive disconsolately, "this disintegration theory--" "Is all bosh," interrupted Teddy angrily. "I don't believe in theosophy, and as I told you, even if they can disintegrate bodies they can only meddle with their own and not with those of other people--there must be some secret hiding-place to which the entrance is from this room." "But where?" demanded Olive, "walls, roof and floor all give no clue." Teddy fastened his eyes upon the chimney. "What about the fireplace," he asked, going over to it and surveying its cumbersome proportions. "Oh, there's nothing there, sir," said Dentham with a wriggle of scorn. "I don't know so much about that," replied Teddy, "see, there's a half-burnt candle on the mantelpiece." "He always had a candle," said Dentham, referring to his master. "Why, I don't know, as there was lots of gas-light."