He hops a taxi at his
hotel and comes here--can't stick to his room any longer. Wants a little
human companionship. This crowd here--and I have Miles' word for
it--ain't any too glad to see him, and shows it. He phones for a taxi to
go back to his hotel--about 9:15, that was, Miles says--but decides to
walk down the hill to meet it. Don't want to go back out on the porch
and lie about having had a good time, when he hasn't.... Well, he opens
the front door, or what would be the front door if this was any ordinary
house, but before he steps out he sees or hears something--probably a
rustling in the hedge across the driveway, or maybe he even sees a face,
in the light from the lanterns on each side of the door. He feels sure
Nita's murderer has trailed him and is lying in wait for him. In a panic
he darts into this room, and don't turn on the light for fear he'll be
seen from the windows, but he can see well enough to make out how the
screens work, and he was familiar with the house anyway. I'll bet you
anything you like Sprague stayed in this room for an hour or two, till
he thought the coast was clear, then eased up this screen, intending to
climb out of the window and drop to the ground.... Not much of a drop at
that. You can see that the tall hedge on this side of the driveway comes
pretty near up to these windows.
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