"I was at home, sir. I've been ill, and have not put foot outside the door for four days till this afternoon."
"Will you swear to that?"
"Of course I will, and my wife will tell you the same thing if you ask her."
"Then if you were at home the whole of last evening, as you state, you could scarcely have failed to hear if anyone knocked at your door?"
"Of course I couldn't, sir; my house ain't like a gentleman's mansion. There's only four rooms in it altogether."
"Mr. Brancker has just told us that he knocked at your door some time between ten and eleven last night--that he knocked repeatedly, but that nobody answered his summons."
"There must be a mistake somewhere," said Strong, with a puzzled shake of his head. "All I know is that I was never out of the house, and that nobody could have knocked without my hearing them."
"What time did you go to bed last night?"
"At twelve, to the minute--my general time. If I go to bed sooner than that I can't sleep."
"Perhaps Mr. Brancker was mistaken in the house," suggested one of the jury, "and knocked at the wrong door."