Apparently he accepted this explanation, for he nodded, and got up. "Very well, Mrs. North. And now, if you are willing, your finger-prints."
A quarter of an hour later, when Helen had left the police station, he sat down again at his desk, and meditatively studied certain notes which he had jotted down on a slip of paper.
Evidence of PC Glass: At 10.02, man seen coming out of garden gate. Evidence of Helen North: At 9.58, approximately, unknown man escorted to garden mate by Fletcher.
He was still looking pensively at these scribblings when PC Glass entered the office to report that no trace of any weapon had been found in the garden at Greystones.
Hannasyde gave a grunt, but said as Glass turned towards the door: Just a moment. Are you certain that the time when you saw a man come out of the gardengate was two minutes after ten?"
"Yes, sir."
"It could not, for instance, have been two or three minutes before ten?"
"No, sir. The time, by my watch and the clock in the room, was 10.05 p.m. when I entered the study. Therefore I am doubly certain, for to reach that room from the point where I was standing was a matter of three minutes, not of seven."
Hannasyde nodded. "All right; that's all. Report to Sergeant Hemingway in the morning."
"Yes, sir," Glass replied, but added darkly: "He that hath a froward heart findeth no good."