“Yes, sir. Of course we was all up through the night, and as soon as I learned that Miss Madeleine was—was gone, sir, I felt I ought to look about a bit. And everything was as right as could be, sir. No burglar was into this house last night, sir.”
“How about the cellar?”
“We never bother much about the cellar, sir, as there’s nothing down there to steal, unless they take the furnace or the gas-meter. But the door at the top of the cellar stairs, as opens into the hall, sir, is locked every night with a double lock and a bolt besides.”
“Then no burglar could come up through the cellar way?”
“That he couldn’t, sir. Nor yet down through the skylight, for the skylight is bolted every night same as the windows.”
“And the windows on the second floor—are they fastened at night?”
“They are in the halls, sir. But of course in the bedrooms I don’t know how they may be. That is, the occupied bedrooms. When the guest rooms are vacant I always fasten those windows.”
“Then you can testify, Harris, that there was no way for any one to enter this house last night except at the front door with a latch-key or through the window of some occupied bedroom?”
“I can swear to that, sir.”
“You are sure you’ve overlooked no way? No back window, or seldom-used door?”