“Yes, sir, straight nose; a handsome man.”
“Black mustache, nicely turned out?”
“Yes, sir; he had a mustache.”
“Well, but all that says nothing. Many people answer such a description. Was there no photograph of him in the flat? Did you never see a photograph?”
“Yes, there was a photograph on the mantelpiece of Miss Barnes’s bed-room. In a silver frame it was; but the day after her death the silver frame was still there, and the photograph was gone, for I noticed it myself.”
“Do you realize that you are telling me a mighty odd thing,” said David with sudden interest. “How soon after the door was forced did you go into the flat?”
“Wasn’t I there when the door was forced? Didn’t I go in at once?”
“And how soon afterward did you notice that the photograph was gone from the silver frame?”
“How soon? Soon afterward.”