“Because the window where you found the footprints is the only window on that side of the house which has a bare patch of earth underneath. All the others have grass growing right up to the windows. I noticed that when I saw the footprints. If he had got out of any of them he would have left no footprints.”
“On the contrary, he knew that and chose that window because he wanted to leave us some footprints. The fact that he selected in the dark the only window that would serve his purpose shows that he is a man who knows the place well. He is clever and resourceful, but that is no reason why we should not succeed in unmasking him.”
“Doesn’t the fact that he wore hobnailed boots indicate that he is a labouring man?”
“My dear Marsland, may he not have worn boots of that kind for the same reason that he walked backwards—to mislead us all?”
“I gathered that you do not agree with Inspector Payne that the marks on the stairs were caused by the intruder trying to obliterate with a wet cloth the marks he made by his muddy boots.”
“Outside the house he does his best to leave footprints; and inside, according to Inspector Payne, he takes special pains to remove similar traces. It is hopeless trying to reconcile the two things,” said Crewe.
“Well, what do you think were the original marks on the stairs that the intruder was so anxious to remove?”
“Blood-stains.”
“But why should he go to the trouble of removing blood-stains on the stairs and yet leave so much blood about in the room in which the body was discovered?”
“I have asked myself that question,” said Crewe. “At the present stage it is very difficult to answer.”