At The Villa Rose

"Look!" he said to Wethermill; "a foot has pressed the blades of

grass down here, but very lightly--yes, and there again. Some one

ran along the border here on his toes. Yes, he was very careful."

They turned again into the main drive, and, following it for a few

yards, came suddenly upon a space in front of the villa. It was a

small toy pleasure-house, looking on to a green lawn gay with

flower-beds. It was built of yellow stone, and was almost square

in shape. A couple of ornate pillars flanked the door, and a gable

roof, topped by a gilt vane, surmounted it. To Ricardo it seemed

impossible that so sordid and sinister a tragedy had taken place

within its walls during the last twelve hours. It glistened so

gaudily in the blaze of sunlight. Here and there the green outer

shutters were closed; here and there the windows stood open to let

in the air and light. Upon each side of the door there was a

window lighting the hall, which was large; beyond those windows

again, on each side, there were glass doors opening to the ground

and protected by the ordinary green latticed shutters of wood,

which now stood hooked back against the wall. These glass doors

opened into rooms oblong in shape, which ran through towards the

back of the house, and were lighted in addition by side windows.

The room upon the extreme left, as the party faced the villa, was

the dining-room, with the kitchen at the back; the room on the

right was the salon in which the murder had been committed. In

front of the glass door to this room a strip of what had once been

grass stretched to the gravel drive. But the grass had been worn

away by constant use, and the black mould showed through. This

strip was about three yards wide, and as they approached they saw,

even at a distance, that since the rain of last night it had been

trampled down.

"We will go round the house first," said Hanaud, and he turned

along the side of the villa and walked in the direction of the

road. There were four windows just above his head, of which three

lighted the salon, and the fourth a small writing-room behind it.

Under these windows there was no disturbance of the ground, and a

careful investigation showed conclusively that the only entrance

used had been the glass doors of the salon facing the drive. To

that spot, then, they returned. There were three sets of footmarks

upon the soil. One set ran in a distinct curve from the drive to

the side of the door, and did not cross the others.

"Those," said Hanaud, "are the footsteps of my intelligent friend,

Perrichet, who was careful not to disturb the ground."