"She says she saw him go away from the house and across the Close, a little before ten.

So Jim Deramore says, anyway--and he says his mother's eyes are as good as another's." "Doubtless!" assented Ransford.

He looked at Mary again, and saw that she was keeping hers fixed on her plate.

"Well," he continued, "if it will give you any satisfaction, Dick, you can tell the gossips that Dr.
Ransford never saw any man, Braden or anybody else, at his house that morning, and that he never exchanged a word with Braden.

So much for that! But," he added, "you needn't expect them to believe you.