"I daresay you did. The difference between us is that I wasn't born yesterday," replied the Inspector. "There's no knowing with her sort. Send Roydon in to me!"
Willoughby strolled in presently, with the butt of a cigar between his fingers, and addressed the Inspector with a rather overacted air of tolerance. "Well, Inspector, what is it now?" he said.
Confronted with the valet's evidence, he changed colour, but said with more annoyance than guilt: "Look here, what are you getting at? If you think I went to Mr. Herriard's room, you're damned well wrong!"
"When I put the question to you, sir, you stated that you did not leave your room until you came down to dinner. I have reason to believe that you did."
"Naturally when you asked me that I thought you meant did I go to Mr. Herriard's room!"
"But that wasn't what I asked you sir. Did you or did you not leave your room before you went down to the drawing-room?"
"Oh well, if you insist on such accuracy, yes, I did! Not that it has the least bearing on the case, which is why I didn't mention it."
"I'll be the judge of that, thank you, sir. Why did you leave your room? Where did you go to?"
"Good God, where do you suppose I went to?" asked Roydon. "You policemen must be pretty hard-up for clues if you're reduced to suspecting a man just because he is a man and not an angel!"
"Oh!" said the Inspector, rather blankly. "Seems to me you might have told me that before, sir."