“Yis, sor.�
“Well, Patsy,� said the detective, when the man was gone, “it is evident that Mrs. Babbington did find a way to keep her engagement, after all.�
“So it seems. She dropped her handkerchief here, in this room; it was she with whom the gardener spoke, outside the house; the hour agrees with the time when she was probably in this room. How did she get here?�
“I give it up, chief.�
“I don’t suppose you questioned the cook and the housekeeper, did you?�
“I did. They both insist that no person could have passed them and entered the house at the rear without being seen; while it is possible for a person to walk past the rear of the house—that is, past the windows where those two servants were, at the time—without being seen.â€�
“What do you mean by that?�
“That she could have done as the gardener suggested, walked directly around the house, and out of the grounds again by the same way she came in.�
“But that would not account for her being in this room—or for Lynne’s being gone from it, Patsy.â€�
“No—unless there is a window along the north side of the house by which she might have entered, and have——â€�