Parker, who had become so interested in his story that he forgot to be flowery, blinked and tried to right his thoughts. 'See, sir?'
`Yes! The' view. Can you see the Traitors' Gate, for instance?’
"Oh. Yussir! I thought you was referring to… well, sir, to something I saw, which I didn't think was important, but now I get to thinking.. '
You saw something?'
`Yussir. That is, it was after Mr Driscoll had left me, sir.' '
Hadley seemed to fight down a desire to probe hard. He had half-risen, but he sat back and said, evenly: `Very well. Now go on with the story, Parker, from the time you saw Mr Driscoll looking out of the window.'
'Very good, sir. He finished his drink, and had another neat. I asked, him why he didn't go back to his flat, if he wanted to see Mr Dalrye. And he said, "Don't be a fool; I don't want to take the chance of missing him again. We'll keep ringing my place every five minutes until I know where he is."
Parker recounted the conversation in a gruff, sing-song voice, and in such a monotone that Rampole could tell only with difficulty where he was quoting Driscoll and where he spoke himself.`But he could not sit still, sir. He roamed about. Finally 'he said: "My God — I can't stand this; I'm going for a walk in the grounds.. So he went out.’`How long was he with you?'
'A matter of ten minutes, say, sir. No; it was less than that… Well, sir, I paid no more attention. I should not have seen anything, except ' Parker hesitated. He saw the veiled gleam in Hadley's eyes; he saw Sir William bent forward, and Dalrye pausing with a match almost to his cigarette. And he seemed to realize he was a person of importance. He gave the hush its full value.
`except, sir,' he suddenly continued in a louder voice; `for the match-in-ashuns of fate. I may remark, sir; that earlier in the day there had been a light mist. But nothing of what might be termed important. It was possible to see some distance and objects was distinct: But it was a-growing very misty. That was how I come to look out of the window. And that was when I saw Mr Driscoll.'