"Never mind what you thought; tell us what happened next," said Mr. Mace. "What happened next was that I went downstairs and got my supper," responded Sweet, with a resentful glance at the chief constable. "After that I sat and had a pipe, waiting to hear Mr. Hazeldine go, that I might lock up for the night." Sweet paused and rubbed his nose with his forefinger. "But you never heard him go, hey?" queried Mace. "No, I never heard him go. I waited till half-past eleven, and then I went upstairs again." "Perhaps you had a little snooze meanwhile," said Mace, insinuatingly. "Me go to sleep when I'm on dooty!" exclaimed Sweet, with an indignant sniff. "No, sir, I'm not one of that sort, and nobody ever hinted at such a thing before." "I am glad to hear it. But tell us what happened when you came upstairs for the second time." "Not caring to disturb Mr. Hazeldine again if he was still there, I peeped through the keyhole to see whether there was a light, but I couldn't see one. Still, to make sure, I knocked, but there was no answer, so I opened the door and looked in. Everything was in darkness; the gas was out and the fire was out. Says I to myself, 'He's gone;' and with that I locked the door on the outside, feeling sure that everything was right." "But ought not the fact of your not having heard Mr. Hazeldine leave the premises have caused you to suspect that something was wrong?" "Mr. Hazeldine was a very quiet gentleman. He would shut the front door and make hardly any noise about it. Mr. Brancker here, begging his pardon for saying so, generally bangs the door after him." "What did you do when you found, as you thought, that Mr. Hazeldine was gone?" "I did what I always do--I put out the gas in the lobby and fastened up the front door for the night, and then went the rest of my rounds to see that everything was right." "How often in the course of the night are you supposed to go your rounds?" "Once every hour; and I'm not only supposed to go 'em, but do go 'em." "And you neither saw nor heard anything last night out of the ordinary way--nothing, in fact, to make you suspicious that anything was wrong?" "Nothing whatever. I was as comfortable in my mind when I turned into bed between six and seven this morning as ever I was in my life." "The inference would seem to be that the crime was committed between the hours of half-past ten and half past eleven," said Mace. "But that is a point which will have to be inquired into more minutely later on." Then turning to John, he added, "You, Mr. Brancker, will probably be able to tell us whether there has been robbery here as well as murder," and beckoning him to follow, he led the way into the strong room. CHAPTER VII. WHO DID IT?