“Did you try to stop me when I got out?”

“No.”

“Why?” asked Tempest, with a sneer that made us all contrast his broad shoulders with the master’s slouch.

“I decided to deal with the matter to-day.”

“How did you see what I had done to the door in the dark?”

“I saw by the light of a match.”

“You say it was two minutes after I left that the explosion took place, and immediately after you left?”

“That’s what I said.”

“And you were striking matches during the interval?”

“Yes.”