Rolfe put down the little dog he had been holding, and went out into the
hall. The dog accompanied him, frisking about him in friendly fashion.
Rolfe first examined the bedroom that he had seen Inspector Chippenfield
enter. It was a small room, containing a double bed. It was prettily
furnished in white, with white curtains, and toilet-table articles in
ivory to match. A glance round the room convinced Rolfe that it was
impossible for a man to secrete himself in it. The door of the wardrobe
had been flung open by the inspector, and the dresses and other articles
of feminine apparel it contained flung out on the floor. There was no
other hiding-place possible, except beneath the bed, and the ruthless
hand of the inspector had torn off the white muslin bed hangings,
revealing emptiness underneath. Rolfe went out into the hall again, and
entered the room next the bedroom. This apartment was apparently used as
a dining-room, for it contained a large table, a few chairs, a small
sideboard, a spirit-stand, a case of books and ornaments, and two small
oak presses. Plainly, there was no place in it where a man could hide
himself. The next room was the bathroom, which was also empty. Opposite
the bathroom was a small bedroom, very barely furnished, offering no
possibility of concealment. Then the passage opened into a large roomy
kitchen, the full width of the rooms on both sides of the hall, and the
kitchen completed the flat.
Rolfe glanced keenly around the kitchen. There were no cooking appliances
visible, or pots or pans, but there was much lumber and odds and ends, as
though the place were used as a store-room. Presumably Miss Fanning
obtained her meals from the restaurant on the ground floor of the
mansions and had no use for a kitchen. The room was dirty and dusty and
crowded with all kinds of rubbish. But the miscellaneous rubbish stored
in the room offered no hiding-place for a man. Rolfe nevertheless made a
conscientious search, shifting the lumber about and ferreting into dark
corners, without result. Finally he crossed the room to look out of the
window, which had been left open, no doubt by Inspector Chippenfield.
The mansions in which the flat was situated formed part of a large
building, with back windows overlooking a small piece of ground. The
flat was on the fourth story. Rolfe looked around the neighbouring roofs
and down onto the ground fifty feet below, but could see nothing.
He withdrew his head and was turning to leave the room when his attention
was attracted by the peculiar behaviour of the dog, which had followed
him throughout on his search. The little animal, after sniffing about the
floor, ran to the open window and started whining and jumping up at it.
Rolfe quickly returned to the window and looked out.
"Why, of course!" he muttered. "How could I have overlooked it?
Inspector," he called aloud, "come here!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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