"Ah! Where, then?"
"Upstairs. My interest was not confined to the scene of the murder. Wishing to spread the alarm, and not being able to rouse any one below, I crept upstairs, and so came upon this poor wretch going through the significant pantomime that has been so vividly described in the papers."
"Ah! Unpleasant for you, very. I imagine you did not stop to talk to him."
"No, I fled. I was extremely shaken up by this time and knew only one thing to do, and that was to escape. But I carried one as yet unsolved enigma with me. How came I to hear this man's cries in Mr. Adams's study, and yet find him on the second floor when I came to search the house? He had not time to mount the stairs while I was passing down the hall."
"It is a case of mistaken impression. Your ears played you false. The cries came from above, not from Mr. Adams's study."
"My ears are not accustomed to play me tricks. You must seek another explanation."
"I have ransacked the house; there are no back stairs."
"If there were, the study does not communicate with them."
"And you heard his voice in the study?"
"Plainly."