The first to move was Dr. Fell. He lumbered through the door, his stick bumping heavily on the carpet against stillness. Wheezing, he bent to peer at the body, and the black ribbon on his glasses brushed the candlestick. Then, still bent forward, he looked slowly round the room. Something seemed to bother him. He went to the windows, looked at the floor under them, and felt the curtains of each one. He was bothered still more.
"Why," he said, suddenly, "why are all the windows open?"
CHAPTER VI
The Wrong Visitor
Storer, who had been waiting patiently with his nose inclined, frowned at this beginning. He said: "I beg your pardon, sir?"
"Were these windows open when you found the body this morning?"
"Yes, sir" replied Storer, after inspecting each one.
The doctor removed his shovel hat; and, on the sudden realization, everybody else did the same; though the doctor's action had been prompted less out of veneration for the dead than to mop his moist forehead with a gaudy bandana. And, as though that action had broken a sort of spell, everybody moved into the room.
"H'm, yes. The floor over here is half an inch deep in water, and all the curtains are soaked… About this storm last night: What time did it commence?"
"About eleven o'clock, sir."