"That would account for your not having seen this noticeable young stranger. You were in Plymouth for several hours, I believe, Mr. Grahame?"
"I was; but upon my word I don't see what hearing that fact can have upon this inquiry."
"Perhaps not. Still, you will not object to tell us what you were doing in Plymouth—how you disposed of your time there."
This question evidently troubled Bothwell, simple as it was, and easy as it ought to have been to answer.
"I played a game at billiards at the Duke of Cornwall," he said.
"I am sure you are too good a player for that to occupy more than half an hour," said Mr. Distin, with his silky air, as if he were employed in a very pleasant business, and were bent upon being as cheery as possible.
"I had to wait for the table."
"Come now, Mr. Grahame, you need not be mysterious about so simple a matter," exclaimed Mr. Distin. "You don't mean to tell us that you went to Plymouth by the 12.15 train"—he had ascertained this fact before the inquiry began—"and spent the whole of the day there, in order to play a game at billiards in a public billiard-room. You must have had other business in Plymouth."
"Certainly. I had other business there."
"Will you kindly tell us what that business was?"