‘Tell me where you did go, will you?’
‘First of all, under the scaffold outside, where I called out, in order to ascertain if the workmen had gone. As I found no one there, I closed the front-door. Then I came back, and sat down in a dark place on the staircase.’
Scratch, scratch, scratch from the quill.
‘On the staircase!’ exclaimed Mr Armytage, with surprise.
‘I wanted to know why Silas Monk never went home when the rest did, because his granddaughter was uneasy about him,’ continued Walter. ‘She told me that it was often close upon midnight before he got home.’
‘Well?’
‘I found out what kept him at the office.’
The senior partner raised his chin, and said encouragingly: ‘Tell us all about it.’
Walter remained silent for a moment, as though collecting his thoughts; then he said: ‘What happened that night at the office, Mr Armytage, is simply this. I had hardly sat down on the staircase when, to my surprise, a workman came out of the yard from his work on the scaffold. I stopped him and questioned him. He told me that he had remained to finish some repairs on the roof, and had not heard me call. I let the man out, and then returned to my place.’
The scratching of the quill began and finished while Walter was speaking. He was about to resume, when the gentleman at the table held up the pen to enforce silence.