“Why the description, Mr. Nestor? Why the positive statement about the time at least one of the men entered the house?”
Every eye in the room was now fixed on Nestor’s face. Even Lieutenant Gordon seemed inclined to think that some huge joke was being pulled off.
“The man who came in at six,” Ned replied, “came in out of the rain, and left marks showing the height and breadth of his shoulders on a wall against which he leaned. These marks show a man tall and slender. He entered the house dripping with water, moving about like a street sprinkler and leaving signs of his presence in the places he visited. He seems to be a person of rather refined tastes, inclined to be neat in personal appearance, for he went to Frank’s bathroom to clean up. There he used the washbowl and the toilet articles, leaving black hair turning gray in the comb.”
“This is uncanny,” shouted Frank. “You couldn’t have observed all this during the minute you were in the bathroom,” he added.
Mr. Shaw considered the question gravely, his eyes fixed on those of the boy.
“He sprinkled the closet floor, did he?” he asked, presently.
“Yes, sir; and stood back against the closet wall, and used Frank’s comb and brush.”
“Did he come to this room, also?”
“Yes, sir; the little round spots on the delicate covering of this little table were made by dripping water. You see, sir, he was in here before the water dripped off his clothes in the closet, probably soon after he entered the house.”
“But how did he get into the house? How did he get into this locked room?”