He stood still, thought a minute and went on.

"Of course it would be better if they had not been here, but...

it's two storeys above them." And there was the fourth storey, here was the door, here was the flat opposite, the empty one.

The flat underneath the old woman's was apparently empty also; the visiting card nailed on the door had been torn off--they had gone away!...

He was out of breath.