"It seems too slight a fact to mention, and, indeed, I had forgotten it till you pressed me, but after we had passed the gates and were well out on the highway, I found that Reuther had left her little pail behind her here, and we came back and got it. Did you mean that, sir?"
"I meant nothing; but I felt sure you had not told all you could about that fatal ten minutes. You came back. It is quite a walk from the road. The man whose shadow you saw must have reached the bridge by this time. What did you see then or—hear?"
"Nothing. Absolutely nothing, judge. I was intent on finding the baby's pail, and having found it I hurried back home all the faster."
"And tragedy was going on or was just completed, in plain sight from this gap!"
"I have no doubt, sir; and if I had looked, possibly John might have been saved."
The silence following this was broken by a crash and a little cry. Peggy's house had tumbled down.
The small incident was a relief. Both assumed more natural postures.
"So the shadow is your great and only point," remarked the judge.
"It is sufficient for me."
"Ah, perhaps."