Wentworth, saw it in _my_ hands just before it was
missed."
"What a nuisance!" I answered. "You were looking at it when Miss Breton
and I saw you, and you didn't notice us; Does Thomas know _when_--I mean
about what o'clock--the book was first missed?"
"That's the lucky part of the whole worry," said Allen. "I left the
rooms at three exactly, and it was missed about ten minutes to four;
dozens of people must have handled it in that interval of time. So
interesting a book!"
"But," I said, and paused--"are you sure your watch was right?"
"Quite certain; besides, I looked at a church clock. Why on earth do you
ask?"
"Because--I am awfully sorry--there is some unlucky muddle; but it was
exactly a quarter, or perhaps seventeen minutes, to four when both Miss
Breton and I saw you absorbed in the Longepierre."
"Oh, it's quite _impossible_," Allen answered; "I was far enough away
from Blocksby's at a quarter to four."
"That's all right," I said. "Of course you can prove that; if it is
necessary; though I dare say the book has fallen behind a row of others,
and has been found by this time. Where were you at a quarter to four?"
"I really don't feel obliged to stand a cross-examination before my
time," answered Allen, flushing a little. Then I remembered that I was
engaged to lunch at All Souls', which was true enough; convenient too,
for I do not quite see how the conversation could have been carried on
pleasantly much further.
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