"You said you were, sir," Constable Mould pointed out cleverly.
"I mean, I wasn't anywhere near the house," replied John impatiently. "Immediately I arrived I went out for a row on the moat."
"Then you did not see or observe anything?"
"No."
Constable Mould, who had been licking the tip of his pencil and holding a notebook in readiness, subsided disappointedly.
"When did this happen?" asked John.
"It is impossible to say," replied Mr. Carmody. "By a most unfortunate combination of circumstances the house was virtually empty from almost directly after dinner. Hugo and his friend, as you know, left for London yesterday morning. Mr. Molloy and his daughter took the car to Birmingham to see a play. And I myself retired to bed early with a headache. The man could have effected an entrance without being observed almost any time after eight o'clock. No doubt he actually did break in shortly before midnight."
"How did he get in?"
"Undoubtedly through this window by means of a ladder."
John perceived that the glass of the window had been cut out.