“I see.  The omelette, though, seems to be upset here on the floor?” said the inspector.

Cumberly briefly explained how it came to be there, Leroux punctuating his friend’s story with affirmative nods.

“Then the door of the flat was open all the time?” cried Dunbar.

“Yes,” replied Cumberly; “but whilst Exel and I searched the other rooms—­and our search was exhaustive—­Mr. Leroux remained here in the study, and in full view of the lobby—­as you see for yourself.”

“No living thing,” said Leroux, monotonously, “left this flat from the time that the three of us, Exel, Cumberly, and I, entered, up to the time that Miss Cumberly came, and, with the doctor, went out again.”

“H’m!” said the inspector, making notes; “it appears so, certainly.  I will ask you then, for your own account, Mr. Leroux, of the arrival of the woman in the civet furs.  Pay special attention”—­he pointed with his fountain-pen—­“to the time at which the various incidents occurred.”

Leroux, growing calmer as he proceeded with the strange story, complied with the inspector’s request.  He had practically completed his account when the door-bell rang.

“It’s the servants,” said Dr. Cumberly.  “Soames will open the door.”

But Soames did not appear.

The ringing being repeated:—­

“I told him to remain in his room,” said Dunbar, “until I rang for him, I remember—­”

“I will open the door,” said Cumberly.

“And tell the servants to stay in the kitchen,” snapped Dunbar.

Dr. Cumberly opened the door, admitting the cook and housemaid.

“There has been an unfortunate accident,” he said—­“but not to your master; you need not be afraid.  But be good enough to remain in the kitchen for the present.”

Peeping in furtively as they passed, the two women crossed the lobby and went to their own quarters.

“Mr. Soames next,” muttered Dunbar, and, glancing at Cumberly as he returned from the lobby:—­“Will you ring for him?” he requested.

Dr. Cumberly nodded, and pressed a bell beside the mantelpiece.  An interval followed, in which the inspector made notes and Cumberly stood looking at Leroux, who was beating his palms upon his knees, and staring unseeingly before him.

Cumberly rang again; and in response to the second ring, the housemaid appeared at the door.

“I rang for Soames,” said Dr. Cumberly.

“He is not in, sir,” answered the girl.

Inspector Dunbar started as though he had been bitten.

“What!” he cried; “not in?”

“No, sir,” said the girl, with wide-open, frightened eyes.

Dunbar turned to Cumberly.

“You said there was no other way out!”

“There is no other way, to my knowledge.”

“Where’s his room?”

Cumberly led the way to a room at the end of a short corridor, and Inspector Dunbar, entering, and turning up the light, glanced about the little apartment.  It was a very neat servants’ bedroom; with comfortable, quite simple, furniture; but the chest-of-drawers had been hastily ransacked, and the contents of a trunk—­or some of its contents—­lay strewn about the floor.