"
Stillman finally turned; there was an added importance in his manner,
and his nervousness had also increased.
"Mr. Osborne," said he, "please let us have what facts the police have
gathered."
"That won't take long," said Osborne. "Just before daylight--three
o'clock, I think she said--the woman whom Hume employed to scrub the
passage-way and stairs got here. She has almost a dozen such jobs in
the neighborhood, and as she must have them all done before business
begins, she's compelled to get at it early. She has a key to the
street door; so she let herself in, came up these stairs and started
for the far end of the hall, where there is a water tap. She didn't
notice anything unusual until she returned with her pail filled; then
she saw this door," pointing to that of the store room, "standing
open."
"I see," said Mr. Stillman; and he gazed very hard at the door.
"Hume, according to the scrub-woman's story," resumed the big man,
"was a queer kind of a chap. You didn't always know just how to take
him. He's lapped up a good bit of booze first and last and sometimes
he's come home pretty well settled. So when the woman sees the door
open, this is the first thing that enters her mind. But to make sure,
she goes into the room and calls him by name.
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