Any one with time and wits _might_ have got in through one of the library windows by taking out a pane and forcing the shutter.

I suppose a practised hand might have done such a thing; but I went outside and there was not a footstep in the snow anywhere near the library windows, or, for that matter, anywhere near the house at all, except at the side and front doors, which are impracticable for any one to force an entrance by." "When did it leave off snowing ?" asked Marston.
"About three o'clock," replied Ralph.

"It must have snowed heavily till then, for there was not a trace of all the carriage-wheels on the drive when we went out last night, but our footprints down to the lodge are clear in the snow now.

There has been no snow since three o'clock this morning." "It all points to the same thing," said Charles, quietly, speaking for the first time.

"The jewels were taken by some one staying in the house." "One of the servants--" began Marston.
"No!" said Charles, cutting him short, "not one of the servants." "It is impossible it should have been one of them," said Ralph, after some thought.