“At the door?”
“No, sir, in the back, not five yards from the lift, sir.” He thought it unnecessary to mention that he had been talking to the housemaid of No. 2, in the basement on her way to the post.
“So any one could have gone out without your knowledge?”
“If they went by the stairs, sir.”
“Come in and help me to search my place again.”
The porter hung back. The man’s sheepish face was almost comical.
“Come, come,” said David, “there isn’t much to be afraid of now, but I tell you that some one put out the light in the corridor, and I am almost sure that I heard the stir of a woman’s dress somewhere.”
The lift-attendant’s pallor increased.
“That’s just it, sir,” he murmured. “The others have heard it, too.”