“No. We have left it open all summer to keep the room aired of the cigar- and cigarette-smoke. The weather has been comparatively warm and I have not yet given the order to close the window before the cocktails are served. I have been closing it when I sent Susan to ring the gong.”
“I see,” said Bernard. “Go on, please.”
“I crossed to the side of the room to lower the window. I was closing it when Mr. Harrison came into the doorway.”
“Do you mean that he paused in the doorway?” asked Landis eagerly.
“Yes. He—usually paused in a doorway.”
Brent had been growing restless. He stirred in his chair and coughed importantly.
“A somewhat pompous man!” he announced. “I often noticed it!”
Landis, who had too vivid a sense of humor for a detective, was seized with a more violent cough. He smothered it and caught an answering gleam in Miss Mount’s dark eyes.
“Beg pardon,” he apologized gravely. “And then?”