The girl fled away to the house, but as she ran she looked back and saw that the stranger was leaning through the window.
A minute later, however, when Hunter rushed out with the hound he was gone, and though he ran all round the buildings he failed to find any trace of him."
"One moment," I asked. "Did the stable-boy, when he ran out with the dog, leave the door unlocked behind him?"
"Excellent, Watson, excellent!" murmured my companion. "The importance of the point struck me so forcibly that I sent a special wire to Dartmoor yesterday to clear the matter up. The boy locked the door before he left it. The window, I may add, was not large enough for a man to get through.
"Hunter waited until his fellow-grooms had returned, when he sent a message to the trainer and told him what had occurred.
Straker was excited at hearing the account, although he does not seem to have quite realized its true significance.
It left him, however, vaguely uneasy, and Mrs. Straker, waking at one in the morning, found that he was dressing.
In reply to her inquiries, he said that he could not sleep on account of his anxiety about the horses, and that he intended to walk down to the stables to see that all was well.
She begged him to remain at home, as she could hear the rain pattering against the window, but in spite of her entreaties he pulled on his large mackintosh and left the house.
"Mrs. Straker awoke at seven in the morning, to find that her husband had not yet returned.