“Telephoning,” Driscoll said quickly.
“To whom?”
“To my office. Rosalind’s telephone call had caught me at my apartment. I dashed out to see her, and I had some orders which had to be executed first thing in the morning, so I telephoned my office.”
“How long were you telephoning?”
“I don’t know exactly, perhaps five minutes, perhaps ten minutes.”
“And it was while he was telephoning,” Mason asked, turning to Rosalind Prescott, “that you went into the solarium to clip the claws on the canary?”
“Yes.”
“And prior to that time Driscoll hadn’t gone in for affection?”
“He hadn’t taken me in his arms, if that’s what you mean.”
“That’s what I mean.”