'I can tell you the time precisely,' said the other. `It was just twenty-five minutes to two.'
9. The Three Hints
It was the placid Hadley who was momentarily jarred out of his calm then. `But look here!' he protested, `the police surgeon said he died at a quarter to….'
'Hold on!' bellowed Dr Fell. He struck the top of the desk such a sharp blow with his cane that the sheet of mauve notepaper fluttered, off. `That's what I was hoping and waiting for. And to think I never took this man's testimony of the murder before! I nearly passed it up; My friend, I am grateful. I am profoundly grateful… Now, you're absolutely positive of that time, are you?'
`Positive. As I told you, my encounter with the young lady had jarred my watch. I stepped back into the door of the Wakefield Tower to see whether it was in danger of slipping off, and I noted the time just before I walked down to Water Lane.'
`Get out your watches, gentlemen,' rumbled Dr Fell, `and let's compare notes. Eheu! So! it's a quarter past six.
That's what I have, anyhow. What about the rest of you?' `Quarter past six,' said General Mason. `Thirteen and a half minutes past,' said Rampole.
`And I?' concluded Arbor. `Fifteen and one half minutes past, to the second. I never am wrong. This watch was made by…'
`Never mind,' interposed Dr Fell. `We shan't row about half a minute. There is, however, one thing I should like to ask. You said you were on your way out at this time, Mr Arbor. But the murder wasn't discovered until half-past two. How is it you were caught here when the detention order was issued?'
`I left one of my gloves behind, on the railing round the Raleigh first-edition in the Bloody Tower. They're — ah — rather special gloves,' he explained, carelessly. `Carter of Fifth Avenue does them for me, and I have no other pair of exactly this sort.'