"Discovered and investigated it."
"And kept the secret to yourself?"
"I did. I saw no reason for communicating it to anyone."
"However, as you discovered it, it was not impossible that others should make the same discovery?"
"It is very evident that somebody has discovered it!" replied the witness with emphasis.
"Now, you say that it is about twenty years since you made this discovery. Have you been in St. Lawrence tower since?"
"Yes. Superintendent Hawthwaite has been in communication with me—privately—about this matter for some little time. I came to Hathelsborough yesterday, and in the afternoon he and I visited the tower and I showed him the secret way and the doors in the panelling. We passed from the tower into the Mayor's Parlour—as you or anyone may, just now, if you know the secret of the sliding panels."
"Is it what you would call a difficult secret?"
"Not a bit of it—once you have hit on the exact spot at which to exert a pressure. The panels are then moved back quite easily."