No wonder the kitchen door was bolted and barred, and that no one was seen to visit Vrain by the front door.

Any one who knew the position of that skylight could obtain admission easily, at any hour, by descending the ladder and passing through cellar and kitchen to the upper part of the house.

So much is clear, but I must next discover how those who entered got into this yard." And, indeed, there seemed no outlet, for the yard was enclosed on three sides by a fence of palings the height of a man, and rendered impervious to damp by a coating of tar; on the fourth side by the house itself.
Only over the fence--which was no insuperable obstacle--could a stranger have gained access to the yard; and towards the fence opposite to the house Lucian walked.

In it there was no gate, or opening of any kind, so it would appear that to come into the yard a stranger would need to climb over, a feat easily achieved by a moderately active man.
As Denzil examined this frail barrier his eye was caught by a fluttering object on the left--that is, the side in a line with the skylight.

This he found was the scrap of a woman's veil of thin black gauze spotted with velvet.