Sir Pierre turned and pointed toward the other end of the short hallway. "That leads to the staircase," he said, pointing to a massive oaken door, "but it's kept locked at all times. And, as you can see, there is a heavy bar across it. Except for moving furniture in and out or something like that, it's never used."
"No other way up or down, then?"
Sir Pierre hesitated. "Well, yes, your lordship, there is. I'll show you."
"A secret stairway?"
"Yes, your lordship."
"Very well. We'll look at it after we've seen the body."
Lord Darcy, having spent an hour on the train down from Rouen, was anxious to see the cause of the trouble at last.
He lay in the bedroom, just as Sir Pierre and Father Bright had left him.
"If you please, Dr. Pateley," said his lordship.
He knelt on one side of the corpse and watched carefully while Pateley knelt on the other side and looked at the face of the dead man. Then he touched one of the hands and tried to move an arm. "Rigor has set in—even to the fingers. Single bullet hole. Rather small caliber—I should say a .28 or .34—hard to tell until I've probed out the bullet. Looks like it went right through the heart, though. Hard to tell about powder burns; the blood has soaked the clothing and dried. Still, these specks ... hm-m-m. Yes. Hm-m-m."