"Cronin was at my house," he said.
"Why didn't you say so in your dispatches? Why did you tell another story the other morning?" asked the visitor.
"I did not telegraph everything that passed between Cronin and myself, nor did I tell you everything the other day."
"Who saw Cronin at your house?"
"My wife."
"Did the servants?"
"Well, they wouldn't remember him."
"Did you present him to your father and mother?"
"They were away."
It was apparent by this time, even apart from the fact that the body had been discovered and the circumstances demonstrated that it was in the catch-basin at the time Long's dispatches were filed, that his carefully prepared story would not hold water.