“I was talking of thefts,” said Quimby, glowering sulkily at her. Then stirred to professional sternness by the hint of ridicule, he turned majestically once more to Vail. “You were sitting up?” he prompted. “You were guarding your house--or trying to--from a second series of thefts? Is that it?” Thaxton nodded. “You are sure you didn’t go to sleep all night?” “I am.” “Be careful, Mr. Vail! Many a man is willing to swear he hasn’t slept a wink when really he dozed off without knowing it. That is a common error.” “Common or not, I don’t think it is likely I was asleep when Chase was killed. Because I was on my feet and walking.” “_So?_” The chief was interested, formidably interested. “You know then just when Mr. Chase was killed?” “I know when the dog set up that racket. Presumably that was the time. I know because I had looked at my watch as I left the house, just before. It was five minutes past three when I looked.” Dr. Lawton glanced at his own watch. “It is seven minutes of four,” said he. “My examination proved Mr. Chase cannot have been dead quite an hour. The two times agree.” “You say you left the house,” pursued the chief, deaf to this interpolation and bending forward, his eyes gripping Vail. “Why did you leave the house?” “To make a tour of it,” returned Thaxton. “It was the second time since the others went to bed that I had gone out to make the rounds of the veranda path. The time between, I was sitting in my study except for one trip through the interior of the house at about one o’clock. That time I went from cellar to attic.” “But you had left the house shortly before the approximate time of Mr. Chase’s death?” insisted the chief. “You went out through the front door?” “Yes. I--” “And came back again through the front door?” “Of course.” “Shortly _after_ the murder?” “The moment I heard Macduff howl. And I hadn’t been outside for more than--” “We’ll come back to that if necessary. At present we have established the fact that you left the house shortly before the killing and that you came in again shortly afterward.” Again Vail nodded, this time a trifle sullenly. Like Miss Gregg, he found the chief’s hectoring manner annoyed him. Nor did he care to admit that at the instant of Macduff’s howling he had been standing motionless under the window of Doris Lane’s room in all but reverent--if absurd--sense of watching over her safety while she slumbered. CHAPTER XII WHEREIN CLIVE PLAYS THE FOOL “Mr. Vail,” spoke up the chief, a new smoothness and consideration in his manner, “it is my duty to mention for the second time this evening that anything you may say is liable to be used against you. I merely speak of it. Now that I’ve done so, if you care to go on answering my questions--” “Fire away!” said Vail.