»You see! His cheekbones don't stand out like....«
»They are concealed by the beard, but if you feel under it with the eye....«
»It may be, but.... Is he a hard drinker?«
The detective, tall and thin, with a yellow face and sparse beard, himself a hard drinker, smiled patronizingly.
»There's no drinking among them.«
»I know there isn't but still....« The superintendent approached the man. »Listen! Were you an accomplice in the murder of N——?« It was a very important and well known name.
But the man remained silent and only smiled and fidgeted with one hairy leg; the toes were bent and distorted by boots.
»You are being examined!«
»You may as well leave him alone. He won't reply. We'd better wait for the captain and prosecutor. They'll make him talk.«
The superintendent smiled, but in his heart for some reason he felt the shrinking again.