"How are you going to do it?" he asked.
"Haven't you a ladder—a rope?"
The man thought a moment.
"I've got a short ladder in the cellar, only about eight feet long, I guess. I'm afraid it would not do."
"Yes it would," replied Duvall, pointing to the roof of the attic portion of the house below. "I'll get down to the roof of the main part of the house first, and from there to the roof of the back building. An eight-foot ladder will be long enough for that. Bring it up, will you?"
The man hesitated.
"I don't just like this idea of going on other people's roofs," he said.
"You don't need to go. I've got to. I'm a detective, and I'm working for Mrs. Morton on a most important case." As he spoke, he took a bill from his pocket and pressed it into the man's hand.
The janitor responded at once.
"I'll fetch it up, sir," he said. "Wait for me here."