“That’s assaulting the police,” he stormed.
“Oh, don’t be childish,” drawled the Saint, cool again. “When we want your little chatter we’ll ask for it. Just now, Bloem, we’ll argue this out by ourselves. We can soon smash this cock-and-bull yarn of yours. One: were you alone in the house?”
“I was.”
“Where was Algy?”
“He’d gone over to see Miss Holm.”
That knocked the bottom out of a neat little alibi that the Saint had thought of trying to put over, but he did not show his disappointment.
“Two: didn’t anyone follow me here with you?”
“I refuse to be cross-examined. I’ve told you I was alone——”
“You’re talking,” said the Saint coldly. “Don’t. Be a good boy and just answer when you’re spoken to. And the point is, if you’ve been quite alone all this time, as you say you have, what’s your word against mine? Suppose I say I called in for a chat, and you stuck me up with that gun and tried to pinch my watch? Why shouldn’t you be run in yourself?”
“Let ’im tell that to the judge,” growled the constable.