Muller pondered the matter for a little while longer. Then he
placed his discovery carefully in the pastor's emptied tobacco-box,
and dropped the box in his own pocket. He closed the window and the
door to the dining-room, lit a lamp, and entered the passageway
leading to the vestry. It was a short passageway, scarcely more
than a dozen paces long.
The walls were whitewashed, the floor tiled and the entire passage
shone in neatness. Muller held the light of his lamp to every inch
of it, but there was nothing to show that the criminal had gone
through here with the body of his victim.
"The criminal"--Muller still thought of only one. His long
experience had taught him that the most intricate crimes were
usually committed by one man only. The strength necessary for such
a crime as this did not deceive him either. He knew that in
extraordinary moments extraordinary strength will come to the one
who needs it.
He now passed down the steps leading into the vestry. There was no
trace of any kind here either. The door into the vestry was not
locked. It was seldom locked, they had told him, for the vestry
itself was closed by a huge carved portal with a heavy ornamented
iron lock that could be opened only with the greatest noise and
trouble.
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