There, again, the barred shutters answered for the security of that room.

A cracked voice spoke through the door of the back parlor.

"The policeman can come in," it said, "if he will promise not to look at me." I turned to the landlady for information.

"It's my parlor lodger, Miss Mybus," she said, "a most respectable lady." Going into the room, I saw something rolled up perpendicularly in the bed curtains.

Miss Mybus had made herself modestly invisible in that way.
Having now satisfied my mind about the security of the lower part of the house, and having the keys safe in my pocket, I was ready to go upstairs.
On our way to the upper regions I asked if there had been any visitors on the previous day.