It would not be
very loud, and yet in the silence of the night it should have
easily penetrated to Mrs. Allen's room. She is, as she has told
us, somewhat deaf; but none the less she mentioned in her
evidence that she did hear something like a door slamming half an
hour before the alarm was given. Half an hour before the alarm
was given would be a quarter to eleven. I have no doubt that
what she heard was the report of the gun, and that this was the
real instant of the murder.
"If this is so, we have now to determine what Barker and Mrs.
Douglas, presuming that they are not the actual murderers, could
have been doing from quarter to eleven, when the sound of the
shot brought them down, until quarter past eleven, when they rang
the bell and summoned the servants. What were they doing, and
why did they not instantly give the alarm? That is the question
which faces us, and when it has been answered we shall surely
have gone some way to solve our problem."
"I am convinced myself," said I, "that there is an understanding
between those two people. She must be a heartless creature to
sit laughing at some jest within a few hours of her husband's
murder.
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