Landis glanced at Bernard and when the older detective made no sign, rose slowly to his feet.
“All right,” he said. “We’re much obliged to you. Now we’ll ask you to wait in the library.”
This time Bernard followed into the hall and waited for Landis to rejoin him. With one accord they turned toward the back of the house. Nor was a word spoken between them until they had gained the billiard-room and shut the door. Then Landis eyed his colleague with a whimsical smile.
“And now,” he observed, “we have one liar at least!”
“How do you figure that out?” demanded Bernard.
“Of course you don’t know, so I’ll explain,” chuckled Landis. “Graham, whose word we have no reason to doubt, has told us that Anita had a row with Harrison over Allen. We can be pretty sure that Allen heard about that row afterwards, from Anita. If he wants to marry her, the last thing he would do would be to try to borrow money from her father. Therefore, he lied about the subject of his row with Harrison!”
“Then what was the subject of his row with Harrison?” inquired Bernard with mock humility.
“You know as well as I do!” Landis retorted. “He wanted to get the old man’s reaction before he eloped with Anita—and he got it! Now what do you think of this stroll in the sunken garden that he told us about?”
“What do you think about it?” chuckled Bernard.
“I have a theory and I’m going to test it.”