“I passed the gate of the villa about half-past nine,” he said.  “The gate was dosed.  Above the wall and bushes of the garden I saw a bright light in the room upon the first floor which faces the road at the south-western comer of the villa.  The lower windows I could not see.  More than an hour afterwards I came back, and as I passed the villa again I noticed that there was now no light in the room upon the first floor, but that the gate was open.  I thereupon went into the garden, and, pulling the gate, let it swing to and latch.  But it occurred to me as I did so that there might be visitors at the villa who had not yet left, and for whom the gate had been set open.  I accordingly followed the drive which winds round to the front door.  The front door is not on the side of the villa which faces the road, but at the back.  When I came to the open space where the carriages turn, I saw that the house was in complete darkness.  There were wooden latticed doors to the long windows on the ground floor, and these were closed.  I tried one to make certain, and found the fastenings secure.  The other windows upon that floor were shuttered.  No light gleamed anywhere.  I then left the garden, closing the gate behind me.  I heard a clock strike the hour a few minutes afterwards, so that I can be sure of the time.  It was now eleven o’clock.  I came round a third time an hour after, and to my astonishment I found the gate once more open.  I had left it closed and the house shut up and dark.  Now it stood open!  I looked up to the windows and I saw that in a room on the second floor, close beneath the roof, a light was burning brightly.  That room had been dark an hour before.  I stood and watched the light for a few minutes, thinking that I should see it suddenly go out.  But it did not:  it burned quite steadily.  This light and the gate opened and reopened aroused my suspicions.  I went again into the garden, but this time with greater caution.  It was a clear night, and, although there was no moon, I could see without the aid of my lantern.  I stole quietly along the drive.  When I came round to the front door, I noticed immediately that the shutters of one of the ground-floor windows were swung back, and that the inside glass window which descended to the ground stood open.  The sight gave me a shock.  Within the house those shutters had been opened.  I felt the blood turn to ice in my veins and a chill crept along my spine.  I thought of that solitary light burning steadily under the roof.  I was convinced that something terrible had happened.”

“Yes, yes.  Quite so,” said Hanaud.  “Go on, my friend.”