That was the time when Earle had heard the stifled cry.
Captain Ayrley was shrewd and keen, a man of great penetration; nothing ever escaped him. He asked each person to stand quite still while he looked round the room.
"There has been no violent entrance," he said; "the murderer must have come up the spiral staircase gently enough, there is not a leaf of the foliage destroyed! he evidently entered no other room but this. Strange—if he came for the purpose of robbery; for there, in the sleeping chamber, I see costly jewels that would have repaid any mere burglar."
He looked around again.
"There are no less than three bells," he said. "Where do they sound?"
"One went to the maid's room, another to the servants' hall, the third to the housekeeper's room."
"It was a strange thing," said Captain Ayrley, "that the young lady, having these bells at hand, did not sound an alarm; she had plenty of time."
"How do you know," asked the earl, "that she had plenty of time?"
The officer pointed to the bridal costume, all lying in shreds upon the floor.
"It must have taken some time to destroy those," he said; "they could not have been so completely destroyed in one single instant. Look again; you will find that they have been done with clean hands—there is not a mark upon them. That was done before the murder; the proof is that the lady has fallen, as you perceive, on the debris."