“Their answers to my first important question were the same, though each was with me alone when I put it.
“I said: ‘You say you saw Sir Arthur at such and such a time in his room on the night of the murder, and that he was sitting in his chair and that that chair was by the window. Are you certain of this?’
“They said: ‘Yes, sir,’ and said it emphatically.
“I played my trump card. I played it in some fear; if the answers were not what I expected, my case fell.
“I said: ‘Now tell me: exactly how much of Sir Arthur did you see? What parts of him, I mean.’
“They goggled.
“I tried again: ‘Was the chair that big arm-chair? And was it facing the window with its back to the door?’
“ ‘Yes, sir,’ they said.
“I said: ‘Then all you saw of Sir Arthur was——’
“They replied, after some further help but with conviction, that all they had seen was the top of his head, part of his trousers, and the soles of his shoes. Belford, who is an intelligent man, expanded his answer by saying: ‘You see, sir, we’re all so used-like to seein’ Sir Arthur sittin’ like that and in that chair as we just naturally thinks as how we’d seen all on ’im that night.’ Which, I think, is as lucid an explanation of the mistake as could well be given.