Dwyer found open. This, by an oversight, may have been left unlocked,
or the criminals may have had a key. However, that does not affect the
case one way or another.
"It is my opinion that Hume was seated at his desk at this time and
heard the intruder enter the storage room; then pushing back his chair
as we saw it, he arose. The criminal, however, sprang upon and struck
him so expertly that he collapsed without a sound. Then the bayonet
came into play.
"A search followed for the thing desired--a search, short, sharp and
savage. The murderer either found what he sought, or the footsteps of
Miss Vale upon the stairs frightened him. At any rate he pulled open
the showroom door--the one with the gong; Locke, still in the hall,
screamed and both fled up these stairs to the roof and away."
Pendleton had waited patiently until his friend finished. Then he
said, with a twinkle in his eye:
"You say the murderer opened the show room door, the gong rang and
then Locke screamed. Now, old chap, that's not possible. If Locke is
deaf, he couldn't hear the gong; and so there would be no occasion for
him to cry out."
"I think if you'll go back over what I've really said," spoke
Ashton-Kirk, "you will find that I have made no mention of Locke
crying out because of the gong.
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