I have just said, were in the house, and each of them, expecting the other to answer, waited for a second ring. It is certain that neither went to the door."
"Then the bell did not ring again?"
"No; it rang only once. Yet almost immediately after the ringing the woman was inside the house; for my mother heard her voice distinctly and—"
"A moment, please!" Trant stopped him. "In case the person was not admitted at the front door, which I assume was locked, was there any other possibility?"
"One other. The door was locked; but, the day before, the catch of one of the French windows opening upon the porch had been bent so that it fastened insecurely. The woman could easily have entered that way."
"But the fact of the catch would not be evident from outside—it would be known only to some one familiar with the premises?"
"Yes."
"Now the voice your mother heard—it was a strange voice?"
"Yes; a very shrill, excited voice of a child or a woman—she could not be sure which—but entirely strange to her."
"Shrill and excited, as if arguing with some one else?"
"No; that was one remarkable part of it; she seemed rather talking to herself. Besides there was no other voice."
"But in spite of its excited character, your mother
