"Could anybody reach the Mayor's Parlour by that stair?"
"They could, sir, certainly; but either me or my wife would see them."
"Just so, if you were in your rooms. But you told us in your first evidence that from about 7.20 or so until eight o'clock you were smoking your pipe at the market-place entrance to the Moot Hall, where, of course, you couldn't see your back door. That correct? Very well. Now, while you were at the front, was your wife in your rooms at the back?"
"Yes, sir."
"Do you know what she was doing?"
"I do, sir. She was getting our supper ready."
"Are you sure she never left the house—your rooms, you know?"
Bunning started. Obviously, a new idea had occurred.
"Ay!" said Meeking, with a smile. "Just so, Bunning. You're not sure?"
"Well, sir," replied Bunning slowly, "now that I come to think of it, I'm not! It never occurred to me before, but during that time my missis may have been out of the place for a few minutes or so, to fetch the supper beer, sir."