'Remember what Sherriff said that
night when I told you about finding the man looking in at the
window? He said that the fellow was spying round as a preliminary
move. To-day he trumps up an obviously false excuse for getting
into the house. Was he left alone in the rooms at all?'
'Yes. Wrench loosed him in here and then came up to tell me.'
'For several minutes, then, he was alone in the house. Why, he had
time to do all he wanted to do!'
'Calm down!'
'I am perfectly calm. But--'
'You've been seeing too many crook plays, Dudley. A man isn't
necessarily a burglar because he wears a decent suit of clothes.'
'Why was he lurking in the grounds that night?'
'You're just imagining that it was the same man.'
'I am absolutely positive it was the same man.'
'Well, we can easily settle one thing about him, at any rate. Here
comes Claire. Claire, old girl,' she said, as the door opened, 'do
you know a man named--Darn it! I never got his name, but he's--'
Claire stood in the doorway, looking from one to the other.
'What's the matter, Dudley?' she said.
'Dudley's gone clean up in the air,' explained Lady Wetherby,
tolerantly. 'A friend of yours called to tell me he had seen
Eustace--'
'So that was his excuse, was it?' said Dudley Pickering.
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