There were, as you recollect, no footprints outside the window.

On the other hand, the footprints from the inn to the pit are clear and distinct.

Rain commenced to fall last night shortly before eleven, but it did not fall heavily until eleven o'clock.

From then till half-past eleven it was a regular downpour, when it ceased, and it has not rained since.

Now, the patches of red mud in the bedroom, and the obliteration of footprints outside the window, prove that the murderer entered the room during the storm, but the footprints leading to the pit prove that the body was not removed from the room until the rain had completely ceased, otherwise they would have been obliterated also, or partly obliterated.