The room upon the extreme left, as the party faced the villa, was the dining-room, with the kitchen at the back; the room on the right was the salon in which the murder had been committed.

In front of the glass door to this room a strip of what had once been grass stretched to the gravel drive.

But the grass had been worn away by constant use, and the black mould showed through.

This strip was about three yards wide, and as they approached they saw, even at a distance, that since the rain of last night it had been trampled down.
"We will go round the house first," said Hanaud, and he turned along the side of the villa and walked in the direction of the road.

There were four windows just above his head, of which three lighted the salon, and the fourth a small writing-room behind it.