"Hell " he said in a resounding tone which ended in mid air, like a suppressed shout. But in continuance of it he jumped in the chair. "Here! You've got a nasty habit of taking a fellow off-guard"
"You told us that Paul Hogenauer, with his bottle of strychnine or bromide, left you about quarter past ten. You took a walk and came back to the house about ten-thirty. During that time the house was open and unguarded. Where was your wife then? Quick!"
"Upstairs in our bedroom," replied Antrim, and pulled himself up. "Here! Stop a bit! Give a fellow a chance. What's that got to do with it?" He considered, sharply, and then his face lightened. "I see. You mean she might have heard somebody sneak in to change those bottles back again? But she didn't, or she'd have told me."
"How do you know she was up in the bedroom?"
"I heard her walking about when I came back. The bedroom is just over this room and the surgery. This room has been partitioned off to make a surgery. I could hear her."
"Uh-huh. What'd you do after you came back?"
"I locked up the house. I told you that."
"And when you locked up in the surgery," asked H.M., nodding heavily towards the half-open door, "did you lock the sash-window as well as the French window?"
"This is new ground," said Antrim. "You didn't ask me — The ordinary window? No. I didn't touch that. Always keep it locked, anyway, so there wasn't any need to look. We never open it. Too much of a nuisance to open; it sticks like the devil."
"Does it? But did you know that somebody broke it open the same night, and got into the house?"