“What, not a window open nor a door unlocked?”
“No, sir.”
By this time you could have heard a pin drop. The certainty that the murderer, whoever he was, had not left the house, at least till after it was opened in the morning, seemed to weigh upon all minds. Forewarned as I had been of the fact, I could not but feel a certain degree of emotion at having it thus brought before me; and, moving so as to bring the butler’s face within view, searched it for some secret token that he had spoken thus emphatically in order to cover up some failure of duty on his own part. But it was unmoved in its candor, and sustained the concentrated gaze of all in the room like a rock.
Being now asked when he had last seen Mr. Leavenworth alive, he replied, “At dinner last night.”
“He was, however, seen later by some of you?”
“Yes, sir; Mr. Harwell says he saw him as late as half-past ten in the evening.”
“What room do you occupy in this house?”
“A little one on the basement floor.”
“And where do the other members of the household sleep?”
“Mostly on the third floor, sir; the ladies in the large back rooms, and Mr. Harwell in the little one in front. The girls sleep above.”