"You were at Canterbury on the night the murder was committed?"
"Till close on eleven," returned Pride easily; "then I walked back to Chillum."
"And you went into Mr. Joad's house?"
"I did. I was with him at one o'clock."
"Did you meet anyone on a bicycle as you walked to Chillum from Canterbury?"
"Why," replied the schoolmaster after a moment's pause, "I met two people, and each rode a bicycle. One, a man, was riding towards Chillum; the other, a woman, was making for Canterbury."
"Did you know who they were?"
"I, my dear Miss Carew!" said Pride in great surprise--"why, no. I took no particular notice of them, in the first place; and in the second, they flitted along so swiftly and noiselessly that I was hardly aware of their passing."
"I suppose you have no clue to the assassin?" said Dora abruptly.
"No. If I had, I should not scruple to earn the fortune."