But there must be somebody in the house. Let's look
upstairs."
He led the way up the broad stairs, which rose midway of the hall,
sending a long ray of light ahead of him. I followed in no very happy
frame of mind, for I confess that this midnight exploration of an
unknown house, with a murdered man for its only occupant, was getting
on my nerves. But Godfrey proceeded calmly and systematically.
The hall above corresponded to that below, with two doors on each
side, opening into bedroom suites. The first was probably that of the
master of the house. It consisted of bedroom, bath and dressing-room,
but there was no one there. The next was evidently Miss Vaughan's. It
also had a bath and a daintily-furnished boudoir; but these, too, were
empty.
Then, as we opened the door across the hall, a strange odour saluted
us--an odour suggestive somehow of the East--which, in the first
moment, caught the breath from the throat, and in the second seemed to
muffle and retard the beating of the heart.
A flash of Godfrey's torch showed that we were in a little entry,
closed at the farther end by a heavy drapery. Godfrey strode forward
and swept the drapery aside.
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