“In my opinion, then, as I read the case, none whatever!”
“None whatever!”—I intervened incredulously—“then what about the shoe-lace? I can’t understand——”
“Neither can I,” reiterated Baddeley. “That beats me—that does.”
Anthony smiled. “You asked me a simple question, and I gave you a simple answer. Let’s leave it at that, for the time being. And now allow me to ask you a question!”
Baddeley signified assent. “Very well, sir!”
“Shortly after you were called to this business, Inspector—you definitely stated that Prescott had been out in the grounds of the Manor after twelve o’clock. Do you remember?”
“Decidedly, I do,” came the answer. “What are you getting at?”
“You drew your inference, I supposed, Inspector, from the mud on the brown shoes, and the state of the clothes that Prescott was wearing when found? They were bone-dry, and you argued that had he been out before twelve they would have got very wet—rain was falling pretty steadily—and would still have shown some traces of wet when you arrived. Am I on the lines of your reasoning?”
“You are—pretty conclusive too, don’t you think?”
“It would fit one hypothesis, certainly—but not another.”