Thus far Oldbeg had simply been called upon to testify to the finding of the body. The remainder of his testimony was to be given later. “About nine o’clock; not more’n five minutes one way or ’tother.” “What were you doing on Canaan Street at five minutes after midnight?” Oldbeg looked frightened, and Mrs. Parlin showed considerable anxiety in the look she cast on the two men. “Come,” said Trafford sharply. “If I can find out you were there, I can find out why you were there. I’d rather hear it from you.” “I was comin’ from the twelve-o’clock train. My cousin, Jim Shepard, went to Portland to work an’ I saw him off.” “Be careful,” Trafford warned him. “If you were coming from the station, you’d have come up Somerset Street, not Canaan.” “Why, ye see,” the man explained, placed at once at his ease in having something to tell of which he had knowledge; “Jim, he was spendin’ the evenin’ with his gal, Miss Flanders, in Canaan Street, an’ I was to call fur him thar; an’ he was so late we couldn’t get round to the station, an’ so we made a short cut through Gray’s Court an’ jest catched the train, an’ that was all. We had to run, or he’d ’a’ missed it any way. So I come back that way, instead o’ through Somerset Street.” “Then you came through Canaan Street to River Road----” “No, I didn’t,” the other interrupted. “I cut across lots back o’ Burgess, ’cause ’twas shorter, an’ struck River Road down in front of Miller’s.” “Yes; and then came up to the driveway and so into the house?” “Yep!” “You must have got in about ten minutes after twelve.” “Jest to a dot!” he exclaimed in evident admiration of the other’s shrewdness. “Jest to a dot. I looked to my watch an’ ’twas jest ten minutes arter midnight.” “Then you must have passed close to the side-door step?” “Yess’r; fact, ye might say, I hit agin it, for I did knock my toe agin it as I passed.” “Was Mr. Wing’s body there then?” The demand was quick and imperative. “No, siree! Do you s’pose I’d ’a’ waited till mornin’ to rout ’em out ef it had ben? Mr. Wing was in this ere room.” “How do you know?” “I saw his shadder on the curtain. He was walkin’ up an’ down. I seed him turn as I come up the drive.” “But why didn’t you see him? The shade was up to that window, when he was found in the morning.” “Yep; but they was all down when I come up the drive, an’ I saw his shadder agin ’em.” Further questioning elicited no added information from the man, excepting the statement that as his cousin Jim swung on to the rear end of the car, another man had swung on to the front end, suddenly rushing out of the darkness. Jonathan did not know who it was; indeed, had hardly given the matter a thought, so anxious had he been lest Jim should be left. When he had gone, Trafford turned to Mrs. Parlin and asked: “When do you think Mr. Wing intended writing that letter, if he hadn’t written it at ten minutes after midnight?” “He must have changed his mind, after all,” she answered.