"No. . . . I'll admit, I looked you up today with a divided mind. I couldn't somehow believe it of you. On the other hand, I've been fooled by a lot of human nature in my time. But you put in an alibi, even before you came to, sound enough to satisfy me. Maybe I'm wrong about you, Lanyard, maybe you're as crooked as a Revenue inspector; but nothing will ever make me believe you pulled that job and then pickled yourself to celebrate, or that the Lone Wolf ever went home after cracking a box and crawled into the hay leaving his front door unlocked. Not only that, but just to make sure, in a perfectly friendly way, I frisked your pockets and searched these rooms high and low before I woke you up. You've got a good right to be sore, if it hits you that way; but I figured it was my duty as a friend as well as an officer of the law."
"On the contrary," Lanyard sincerely assured him, "I am appreciative and grateful, glad to be cleared in your sight, even more glad to be cleared in my own."
"In your own?" Crane repeated in perplexity. "What d'you think you mean by that?"
"I'm glad I do not have to wonder if possibly I did this thing in my sleep, so to speak."
"Quit your kidding!" Crane got up with a laugh. "I've got to be getting along now, oughtn't to have lost as much time as I have."
"I shall miss your soothing presence. But I am sure you understand that there are times, and this is one of them, when one would rather be alone."
"You said it."
"You will pardon my not rising to see you to the door?"
"Stay right where you are. I'll drop in again, some time this evening, maybe, to see how you are."
"Do. There are many things I want to consult you about when I feel better able."