“Yes,” asserted Pegge. “I was there before Mrs. Tretheroe came and took it. Been there, off and on, ever since I was a young ’un. Went there first when I was fourteen.”
“Well, that side-door, now? What is it. Where does it lead, when you get in?”
”Into a lobby that runs along the back of the house. There’s a staircase opens from it—a wide staircase—that comes out, through a double door at the top, into the big staircase in the hall.”
“So that anybody coming from the bedrooms could easily get at it?”
“Easy enough!” assented Pegge.
“I suppose there’d be none of the servants about at four o’clock in the morning?” enquired Blick, after a moment’s thought.
Pegge opened his mouth in a broad grin.
“Not likely!” he said. “Servants’ getting-up bell goes at six o’clock. Catch any of ’em being up before that!”
“Talking about servants,” observed Blick, “do you know Mrs. Tretheroe’s maid?”
Pegge smiled.