ow, sir, what time did
you come up?

DE LEVIS. About eleven.

INSPECTOR. Precise, if you can give it me.

DE LEVIS. Well, I know it was eleven-fifteen when I put my watch under
my pillow, before I went to the bath, and I suppose I'd been about a
quarter of an hour undressing. I should say after eleven, if anything.

INSPECTOR. Just undressin'? Didn't look over your bettin' book?

DE LEVIS. No.

INSPECTOR. No prayers or anything?

DE LEVIS. No.

INSPECTOR. Pretty slippy with your undressin' as a rule?

DE LEVIS. Yes. Say five past eleven.

INSPECTOR. Mr WINSOR, what time did the gentleman come to you?

WINSOR. Half-past eleven.

INSPECTOR. How do you fix that, sir?

WINSOR. I'd just looked at the time, and told my wife to send her maid
off.

INSPECTOR. Then we've got it fixed between 11.15 and 11.30. [Jots] Now,
sir, before we go further I'd like to see your butler and the footman
that valets this gentleman.

WINSOR. [With distaste] Very well, Inspector; only--my butler has been
with us from a boy.

INSPECTOR. Quite so. This is just clearing the ground, sir.

WINSOR. General, d'you mind touching that bell?

CANYNGE rings a bell by the bed.

INSPECTOR. Well, gentlemen, there are four possibilities. Either the
thief was here all the time, waiting under the bed, and slipped out after
this gentleman had gone to Mr WINSOR. Or he came in with a key that fits
the lock; and I'll want to see all the keys in the house. Or he came in
with a skeleton key and out by the window, probably droppin' from the
balcony. Or he came in by the window with a rope or ladder and out the
same way. [Pointing] There's a footmark here from a big boot which has
been out of doors since it rained.

CANYNGE. Inspector--you er--walked up to the window when you first came
into the room.

INSPECTOR. [Stiffly] I had not overlooked that, General.

CANYNGE. Of course.

A knock on the door relieves a certain tension,

WINSOR. Come in.

The footman ROBERT, a fresh-faced young man, enters, followed by
TREISURE.

INSPECTOR. You valet Mr--Mr De Levis, I think?

ROBERT. Yes, sir.

INSPECTOR. At what time did you take his clothes and boots?

ROBERT. Ten o'clock, sir.

INSPECTOR. [With a pounce] Did you happen to look under his bed?

ROBERT. No, sir.

INSPECTOR. Did you come up again, to bring the clothes back?

ROBERT. No, sir; they're still downstairs.

INSPECTO