"I'm sorry for Avice Harborough, anyway," remarked Bent, "and it's utterly beyond me to imagine why her father can't say where he was last night. I suppose there'd be an end of the case if he'd prove where he was, eh?" "He'd have to account for every minute between nine and ten o'clock," answered Brereton. "It would be no good, for instance, if we proved to a jury that from say ten o'clock until five o'clock next morning, Harborough was at--shall we say your county town, Norcaster. You may say it would take Harborough an hour to get from here to Norcaster, and an hour to return, and that would account for his whereabouts between nine and ten last night, and between five and six this morning. That wouldn't do--because, according to the evidence, Kitely left his house just before nine o'clock, and he may have been killed immediately. Supposing Harborough killed him at nine o'clock precisely, Harborough would even then be able to arrive in Norcaster by ten. What we want to know, in order to fully establish Harborough's innocence is--where was he, what was he doing, from the moment he left his cottage last night until say a quarter past nine, the latest moment at which, according to what the doctor said, the murder could have been committed?" "Off on one of his poaching expeditions, I suppose," said Bent. "No--that's not at all likely," answered Brereton. "There's some very strange mystery about that man, and I'll have to get at the truth of it--in spite of his determined reticence! Bent!--I'm going to see this thing right through! The Norcaster Assizes will be on next month, and of course Harborough will be brought up then. I shall stop in this neighbourhood and work out the case--it'll do me a lot of good in all sorts of ways--experience--work--the interest in it--and the _kudos_ I shall win if I get my man off--as I will! So I shall unashamedly ask you to give me house-room for that time." "Of course," replied Bent. "The house is yours--only too glad, old chap. But what a queer case it is! I'd give something, you know, to know what you really think about it."