"Because I have been abroad again for my firm. I knew nothing about this case until a couple of days ago."
"I see. You have heard the girl give evidence; and you have heard the doctor's evidence as to the condition in which she arrived home. Does anything in your story explain that?"
"No."
"It was not you who beat the girl?"
"No."
"You say you went down one night and found her gone."
"Yes."
"She had packed up and gone?"
"Yes; so it seemed at the time."
"That is to say, all her belongings and the luggage that contained them had disappeared with her."