But Leslie did not answer, and his friend saw that he was pale as death.
"Of course you can prove an alibi—cannot you, Leslie?" he asked, with a shade of anxiety in his tone.
But Leslie looked at him with a gleam of horror in his dark eyes, and his voice shook with emotion as he answered:
"No, Carl, I cannot!"
Carl Muller started as though a bullet had struck him.
"Leslie you jest," he exclaimed, hoarsely. "Of course you can prove where you were at that exact time when the murder took place. Your safety all hinges upon that. Do you not remember where you were at that time?"
"Ah, Heaven, do I not remember? Every moment of that time is indelibly stamped upon my memory," groaned the unhappy prisoner.
"Then why do you talk so wildly, my dear fellow? All you have to do is to tell where you were at that time, and produce even one competent witness to prove it."
"I cannot do it!" Leslie answered, gravely.