“They couldn’t very well, as he was with you when the discovery was made.”
“I know it. And for the police to say he ran away to hide to protect me from suspicion is just about the most absurd theory possible!”
“I think so, too. Now, to get down to dates. Have you heard anything of Mr. Manning later than the time when I saw him get off the Third Avenue car on his way home that night?”
“No, I haven’t. And we know he never reached his home. His rooms are in a house on Gramercy Park——”
“That’s why he got off at Twenty-second Street——”
“Yes, of course. He left you there, didn’t he?”
“We both got off the car there. My own rooms are in the same locality. But the snow squall was a whirlwind at the corner, and my glasses were so covered with flakes that I couldn’t see a thing for a moment, and when I could, Manning had got out of sight. I didn’t know then in just what direction he lived, so I looked all four ways but I didn’t see him. However, in the black squall, one couldn’t see half a dozen steps anyway.”
“Of course, he started toward his home,—perhaps, he almost reached it,—when whoever was lying in wait for him attacked him.”
“Why are you so sure he was attacked? He may have had an errand in some other direction.”
“I sort of see the thing as a picture. And as he got out at that corner I naturally see him going straight home. It is not likely that he would be going on some other errand, and yet get off at that corner.”