"You had your watch with you?"
"Yes; but in my then perturbed state of mind it never struck me to look at it."
"Mr. Joad said he saw you pass his cottage shortly before twelve o'clock."
"It might have been," said Allen indifferently; "but to my mind it was nearer one o'clock. Indeed, it must have been, for, according to your showing, the murder was committed about that time, and when I entered the study I found Edermont dead."
"Dead! Poor soul!" cried Dora, clasping her hands.
"The postern-gate was open," continued Allen rapidly, "also the side-door of that deserted drawing-room. This did not surprise me, as I had been led to expect from the letter that the way would be clear for me to enter. When I went into the study I was struck with horror at the sight. A candle, wasted nearly to the socket, was burning on the bureau. The desk itself was hacked and smashed, and the drawers forced open, as you saw it in the morning. Hundreds of letters and papers were scattered about, some on the bureau itself, others on the floor, and in the midst of all this disorder lay the ghastly dead body, terrible to look at in the pale glimmer of the expiring candle. The pistol was on one side, the knobkerrie on the other, and the dead man, with his face and head beaten and disfigured, lay between."
"Did you hear anyone, or see anyone?"
"I heard nothing, I saw nothing. The door leading to the hall was closed, and there was no sign of the assassin. I saw in a flash the terrible position in which I was placed. I had quarrelled with Edermont, and here I was, in his private room at midnight, standing beside his dead body. I might be accused of the murder, and condemned on circumstantial evidence--for, on the face of it, I could make no defence. As I looked with horror on the scene, with these thoughts in my mind, the candle flamed up in one expiring flash, then died out in a blue flicker. I was alone in the darkness with the dead man; and, seized with a sudden panic--surely excusable under the circumstances--I turned and fled rapidly. In two minutes I was on my bicycle, running full speed for Canterbury. That is all I know, Dora."
Dora considered for a few moments after he had finished.
"You are sure that there was nobody else in the Red House on that night?" she asked, after a pause.