"How far was he in front of you?" asked the inspector.
"I don't know," confessed the manager. "I should say about ten yards when we started—but I am not much of a runner. I had lost him altogether before I got here."
"That cursed rain," the inspector muttered.
"This is the branch that leads to the other path," said Copplestone, halting.
"And it was further along there, by that fir tree that I met Monsieur Dupont," added the manager.
"That is so," agreed Monsieur Dupont. "Layton certainly did not come beyond this point in my direction."
"By taking that branch," the inspector calculated, "he would have met Miss Manderson just at the time that the crime was committed."
"He would," said the manager.
Monsieur Dupont turned again to Tranter.