“I saw them from my window.”
“Describe them as you saw them.”
“My brother came up the walk first, and alone. I think he must have stopped on the piazza, for I did not hear him come up the stairs, although I listened.”
“Well! and what next?”
“Soon after that I saw Ramon Orizaba and a stranger approach the house together. That stranger I now suppose to be yourself.”
“Precisely. And did you again listen to discover if they came up the stairs?”
“Yes. I thought that all three came up together and went into the room.”
“Now, what was it that called you from your room, so that you happened to be passing your brother’s door at the moment when the sights you saw within held your attention?”
“Nothing at all. I was merely restless. I knew from his manner of walking that my brother was intoxicated. I also saw that Ramon Orizaba was in a condition that was not much better, and I naturally supposed the same thing of the third person. I knew they had gone into my brother’s rooms, and I wished to assure myself that they were not quarreling.”
“Now tell me what was the first discovery you made inside your brother’s room. What was the very first thing you saw which attracted your attention?”