"Empty-handed! And what about the lamp?"
"Taking the lamp would not have prevented him from taking this snuff-box, which, I see, is studded with diamonds, or this necklace of old opals. It would require but two movements more. His only reason for not making those movements was that he was not here to make them."
"Still, the marks of the ladder?"
"A farce! Mere stage-play to divert suspicions!"
"The scratches on the balustrade?"
"A sham! They were made with sandpaper. Look, here are a few bits of paper which I picked up."
"The marks left by the uprights of the ladder?"
"Humbug! Examine the two rectangular holes below the balcony and the two holes near the railings. The shape is similar, but, whereas they are parallel here, they are not so over there. Measure the space that separates each hole from its neighbour: it differs in the two cases. Below the balcony, the distance is nine inches. Beside the railings, it is eleven inches."
"What do you conclude from that?"
"I conclude, since their outline is identical, that the four holes were made with one stump of wood, cut to the right shape."