But what particularly attracted the attention of Denzil was a short wooden ladder lying on the stone pavement, and which probably was used to reach the wine in the upper bins.
"And I should not be surprised if it had been used for another purpose," murmured Lucian, glancing upward at the square aperture of the skylight.
It struck him as possible that a stranger could enter thereby and descend by the ladder.

To test the truth of this he reared the ladder in the middle of the cellar so that its top rung rested against the lower edge of the square overhead.

Ascending carefully--for the ladder was by no means stout--he pushed the glass frame upward and found that it yielded easily to a moderate amount of strength.

Climbing up, step after step, Lucian arose through the aperture like a genie out of the earth, and soon found that he could jump easily out of the cellar into the yard.
"Good!" he exclaimed, much gratified by this discovery.

"I now see how the assassin entered.