He shot an amused glance at Robert, sunk in his chair, glooming down his long legs at the fire. He sat for a moment or two enjoying his friend's discomfiture.
"Of course," he said, at length, "they may have remembered a parallel case, where everyone believed the girl's heart-rending story and were very thoroughly led up the garden."
"A parallel!" Robert said, folding his legs and sitting up. "When?"
"Seventeen-something. I forget the exact date."
"Oh," said Robert, dashed again.
"I don't know what is 'Oh' about it," Macdermott said mildly. "The nature of alibis has not changed much in two centuries."
"Alibis?"
"If the parallel case is any guide the girl's story is an alibi."
"Then you believe— I mean you find it believable-that the girl's story is all nonsense?"
"A complete invention from beginning to end."