As I anticipated, a discovery was made very quickly. But, strangely enough, it was not at all what I had looked for. It only added further mystery to the altogether inscrutable problem. CHAPTER NINE. I DISCOVER SOMETHING. On the light being switched on in the dining-room, I held my breath, expecting that Langton would there find the body of the girl he loved. It had, however, been removed. The yellow cushion was still there, flung upon the leather couch where the unfortunate girl had lain, but there was no sign of any tragedy having been enacted. Strangely enough, however, a bright fire burned in the grate, while upon the table were the remains of a repast--dinner, no doubt--of which three persons had partaken. Dessert had been finished, and the three coffee-cups had been drained, while about the room was a strong odour of cigars. Who had been entertained there by Kirk? The set table did not, of course, strike any of my companions as at all unusual, and so they passed across to the morning-room on the opposite side of the hall, one of the constables remaining at the foot of the stairs in order to prevent the escape of any persons who might be secreted in the house. In the dining-room I loitered, for I had noticed in the grate a quantity of burnt paper. Therefore, when I was alone, I stooped, and snatched up a few half-consumed scraps--leaves of a manuscript-book they appeared to be. But at the moment, having no time to examine them, I crushed them into the pocket of my jacket, and followed the quartet on their tour of investigation. Every nook and corner, behind chairs, in cupboards, everywhere they searched, expecting to discover somebody secreted. But they, of course, found the house untenanted. In the smaller drawing-room, where the clean-shaven young man had noticed the light, there was a fire burning and an odour of cigars, showing that some man or men had been in the room. What consultation, I wondered, had taken place there? The large drawing-room--the room from whence the Professor had signalled--was cold and cheerless, while in the study nothing had apparently been disarranged. "I think, sir," remarked the inspector to young Langton, "that you must have been mistaken. I don't see any evidence of the presence of thieves here. The master is away, and the servants are all out for this evening. That's all." "But I'm quite certain there was a light when I first rang," declared Langton. "Then if anyone was here, he or she must still be here," replied the officer with a slightly incredulous smile, while at the same moment I recollected that as dinner had been served in the dining-room, there must also have been servants there during that evening. "Is there no other door--no back door?" I queried.