“Very little, sir; it was something about somebody being at some hotel—of no interest to me. I was only in the room just time enough to place the syphon on the table and withdraw. As I closed the door he was saying, ‘You’re sure he isn’t in the hotel?’ or words to that effect.” “And that was the last you saw and heard of him alive?” “No, sir. A little later, at half-past eleven, when I had settled down in my pantry with the door ajar, and a book to pass the time, I heard Mr. Manderson go upstairs to bed. I immediately went to close the library window, and slipped the lock of the front door. I did not hear anything more.” Trent considered. “I suppose you didn’t doze at all,” he said tentatively, “while you were sitting up waiting for the telephone message?” “Oh no, sir. I am always very wakeful about that time. I’m a bad sleeper, especially in the neighbourhood of the sea, and I generally read in bed until somewhere about midnight.” “And did any message come?” “No, sir.” “No. And I suppose you sleep with your window open, these warm nights?” “It is never closed at night, sir.” Trent added a last note; then he looked thoughtfully through those he had taken. He rose and paced up and down the room for some moments with a downcast eye. At length he paused opposite Martin. “It all seems perfectly ordinary and simple,” he said. “I just want to get a few details clear. You went to shut the windows in the library before going to bed. Which windows?” “The French window, sir. It had been open all day. The windows opposite the door were seldom opened.” “And what about the curtains? I am wondering whether any one outside the house could have seen into the room.” “Easily, sir, I should say, if he had got into the grounds on that side. The curtains were never drawn in the hot weather. Mr. Manderson would often sit right in the doorway at nights, smoking and looking out into the darkness. But nobody could have seen him who had any business to be there.” “I see. And now tell me this. Your hearing is very acute, you say, and you heard Mr. Manderson enter the house when he came in after dinner from the garden. Did you hear him re-enter it after returning from the motor drive?”