"Why, yes. But——"
"Then," said the Mistress, much more comfortably, "we can prove Lad's alibi just as I said yesterday we could. Marie always lets him out in the morning when she comes downstairs to dust these lower rooms. She's never down before six o'clock; and the sun, nowadays, rises long before that. Schwartz says he saw Lad both times in the early dawn. We can prove, by Marie, that Lad was safe here in the house till long after sunrise."
Her worried frown gave way to a smile of positive inspiration. The Master's own darkling face cleared.
"Good!" he approved. "I think that cinches it. Marie's been with us for years. Her word is certainly as good as a Boche farmhand's. Even Maclay's 'judicial temperament' will have to admit that. Send her in here, won't you?"
When the maid appeared at the door of the study a minute later, the Master opened the examination with the solemn air of a legal veteran.
"You are the first person down here in the mornings, aren't you, Marie?" he began.
"Why, yes, sir," replied the wondering maid. "Yes, always, except when you get up early to go fishing or when——"
"What time do you get down here in the mornings," pursued the Master.
"Along about six o'clock, sir, mostly," said the maid, bridling a bit as if scenting a criticism of her work-hours.
"Not earlier than six?" asked the Master.