Disguised

Was nobody in the house but Sir Smith Hans and the servants?"

"No; Lady Hans was away with her daughter and her maid. The valet, cook, parlour-maid, house-maid and kitchen-maid were the only people in their house, and naturally wasted an hour or two squawking and gossiping with each other. I reached there at about ten."

"What have you been doing since then?"

"Trying to get on the track of Sir Han's fixed appointment last night, since, with the exception of the cook, his 'appointer' was the last person who saw him before he just disappearance away. There may be some quite simple explanation, though I'm dashed if I can think of even a single explanation, for the moment. Hang it all, a man doesn't come in and go to bed and walk away again 'mid nodings on' in the middle of the night."

"He may have been disguised. Could be!"