"You forget he knew the road and was driving a high-powered racing car. It's improbable but not impossible."
"I count that as a hole, but go on."
"Now in this hypothetical case we'll suppose that as that car flew over the miles the man and the woman in it had high words?"
"Hold on," said Jones, holding out his fork—"that's too big a hole. They were lovers eloping, not an old married couple."
"I'll explain that later. The high words inflamed and enraged the man to the point of murder and he conceived a horrible plan. As they neared the Wayside Arbor he told the woman something was wrong with the car and sent her to the place ostensibly to telephone, really to establish her presence there at a time when, had she been with him, she could hardly have got that far."
I jumped in there. I knew it was only fooling, but even so I didn't like hearing Mr. Reddy talked about that way.
"Who did he send her to telephone to, Mr. Jasper—himself?"
Babbitts laughed and jerked his head toward me.
"Listen to our little belle sounding the curfew on Jasper."
But Mr. Jasper was ready.