Free Footsteps in the Dark by Georgette Heyer Page A

noise you heard…'
    "Was caused by the stone-block opening," finished Charles. "We proved that."
    Mr. Flinders scratched his chin again. A solution dawned upon him. "I'll tell you what it is, sir. Maybe you're right, and what you saw in the cellars was flesh and blood. I shall get on to that, following up the line you've given me. But there wasn't any flesh and blood about that skeleton."
    "I'm thankful to say that there wasn't," said Charles. "Dry bones were quite enough for us."
    "What I meant," said Mr. Flinders, with a return to his official manner, "was that no human being caused that skeleton to be put into this hole you speak about. What you've done, sir, is you've found out the secret of the Priory. That's what you've done. Now we know why it's haunted, and my advice to you is, "Pull it down."'
    "You won't mind if we don't follow it, will you?" Charles said, sarcastically.
    "That's for you to decide," said Mr. Flinders. "But how you've got to look at it is like this: When this stone, which you have improperly sealed up, opened, it made a noise which could be heard all over the house. Following on that, the person or persons that nefariously broke into the Priory by that way couldn't do it without you knowing. That's fact, that is. The police have to work on facts, sir, and nothing else. Now you say that when this picture fell down you hadn't heard that stone open. From which it follows that no person or persons did open it that night. That's logic, isn't it, sir?"
    "I'll take your word for it," said Charles. "And here's a second way for you to look at it: It is just possible that there is another entrance to the Priory which we don't know anything about."

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    Chapter Five

    The immediate effect of the visit to Constable Flinders was a visit to the Priory paid by that worthy individual the very next day. Celia received him with a flattering display of relief, and the constable, a shy man, flushed very red indeed when she told him she was sure everything would be cleared up now that he had taken the matter in hand. However, he knew that she spoke no less than the truth, and said as much. He then requested her to show him the priest's hole.
    "I will, of course," she said, "but I wish my husband or my brother were in, because I can hardly bear to open that ghastly panel."
    Following her delicately up the stairs Mr. Flinders said that he could quite understand that. When she had succeeded in locating the rosette which worked the panel, and had twisted it round, he peered inside the dark recess almost as fearfully as Celia herself. There was nothing there, but it smelted strongly of Lysol. After deliberating for a while, the constable announced his intention of climbing into the hole. He succeeded in doing this, not without inflicting several scratches on the panelling, and once inside he very carefully inspected the walls. Celia watched him hopefully, and wondered whether the scratches could be got rid of.
    Mr. Flinders climbed out again, and picked up his helmet from the floor where he had placed it. "Nothing there, madam," he said.
    "What were you looking for?" inquired Celia.
    "There might have been a way in," explained Mr. Flinders. "Not that I think so meself," he added, "but the police have to follow everything up, you see."
    "Oh!" said Celia, a little doubtfully. She closed the panel again. "Is there anything else you'd like to see upstairs?"
    Mr. Flinders thought that he ought to make a reconnaissance of the whole house. He seemed depressed at being unable to explore Mrs. Bosanquet's room, but when he learned that that lady was enjoying her afternoon rest he said that he quite understood.
    A thorough examination of the other rooms took considerable time, and Celia grew frankly bored. Beyond remarking that the wall-cupboards were a queer set-out, and no mistake; that a thin man might conceivably get down the great chimney in the chief bedroom; and that a burglar wouldn't make much trouble over getting in at