"Wait a bit!" said Ned. "I was assuming a window had been open. But were the windows fastened before Sir Reginald came in to sit here last thing?"
"Certainly they were that," said the butler emphatically.
"It was a mild night, he might have opened one himself," replied the Procurator Fiscal. "Or supposing the man had come in and left again by the door, what's more likely than that he unsnibbed the window to make people think he had come that way?"
"He would surely have left it wide open," objected Ned.
"Might have thought that too obvious," replied the lawyer, "or might have been afraid of the noise. Unsnibbing would be quite enough to suggest entry that way."
Ned turned his keen eye hard on him.
"What's your own theory then?"
"I've none," grunted Simon. "No definite evidence one way or the other. Mere guesses are no use."
Ned walked to the window and looked at it carefully. Then he threw it up and looked out into the garden.
"Of course you've looked for footsteps underneath?" he asked.