"Do you know why I have sent for you, Mr Stacey?"
"I was hoping, my dear young lady, that it was partly for the purpose of affording me the inexpressible pleasure of seeing you again."
She had always found his urbanity a little trying, it seemed particularly out of place just now. Possibly she did not give sufficient consideration to the fact that the old gentleman had been brought out of town at no small personal inconvenience, and that he had just enjoyed a very good dinner.
"Of course there was that; but I am afraid that the principal reason why I sent for you is because of this trouble about Jim Baker."
"Jim Baker?"
"The man who is charged with committing the murder in Cooper's Spinney."
"I see, or, rather, I do not see what connection you imagine can exist between Mr Baker and myself."
"He is innocent--as innocent as I am."
"You know that of your own knowledge?"
"I am sure of it."