The police noticed it, while Langton exclaimed:
“Look! Ethelwynn is usually so very tidy! Somebody has, no doubt, been turning over her treasures. For what reason?” and he halted before the open door leading to the passage to the laboratory. “Look!”
Inspector, sergeant, and constable all looked, but saw nothing unusual. The door stood open—that was all.
“Don’t you see!” cried the young man excitedly. “This door—the door which Professor Greer always keeps fastened—has been burst open. Somebody has been here! I was not mistaken after all!”
And he made his way along the passage, opening the second door and entering the darkness of the great lofty room. The constable followed with his lamp, while I held behind, knowing that in a few seconds the ghastly truth must be discovered.
Langton quickly found the switch, and the place was flooded with light.
At the same moment a strong and pungent smell of some acid greeted our nostrils, causing us to catch our breath. It was due, we noticed, to a bottle of some liquid which had been knocked off the table nearest us, and lay smashed upon the tiled floor.
Full of fear and trembling, I glanced to the corner in which I had seen the Professor’s huddled-up body; but my heart gave a quick bound of joy. It was not there!
Already evidences of the double tragedy had been removed. Was it for that reason, in order to remove them, that Kershaw Kirk had been there?
“Why!” exclaimed Langton. “Look! the furnace is alight. The Professor certainly cannot be in Scotland!”