"Ah no, Monsieur. I live in the Court at the rear. Some of them were strangers who ran in from the street."
"There was no one in the upper hall?"
"No one."
"And in the hall-room?"
"One of the men who had rushed up examined the room and said it was empty. I went in myself also and saw that this was so."
"Is the man who first went into the hall-room here?"
"No, Monsieur le Commissaire. I do not recognize him, the light from the doorway was dim and——"
"All right," said Matthieu. "No matter."
And then,
"And the other door from the apartment to the hallway remained locked all the time?" he asked.