"Whom?"
"I don't remember that I did ask. But I knew the place. I went in through the outer office to an inner room. There was no one there. I locked the door between the two rooms and waited inside for Barker to come. There was a light in the outer office, but the room I was in was lit only by the light that came in through the glass door between the two rooms. There was a curtain over this glass door, and I pulled it aside to watch. A man came in, sat down and waited awhile, and then went away. Then Barker came. I fired through the door,--one of the little panes of glass was broken, and I fired through that. Then--then I opened the window and climbed down the fire-escape and got out into the street. There were crowds of people going home from the theaters, and I fell in with the crowd."
"And went home?"
"Yes." He drew a sigh, as of relief, and looked up at me.
It is one of the indications that this universe is under divine direction that a lie cannot masquerade successfully for the truth for an extended period. As Eugene talked, it had been coming more and more strongly into my mind that he was not telling the truth. He was going too cautiously. He seemed to be picking his way among uncertainties with a studious design to present only irrefutable facts to my scrutiny. And yet the accident that had put me on the other side of that closed door should enable me to refute some of his facts, it seemed to me. I felt that I must make sure.
"You say that a man came into the office and waited awhile and then went away. Did you know him?"
"No. He was a stranger."
"Would you know him if you saw him?" He hesitated. "No, I think not. I can't recall his face."
"Or how he was dressed? Business suit, or evening dress?"
"Oh, business suit, I should think."