It was nearly ten to twelve when I got home, and I reckon it's about twenty minutes' walk from the Castle to the cottage here." "And all you went to the Castle for was to speak to Elizabeth Twitcher ?" said Mr.Flexen.
"That was all I went for--every single thing.

And it was all I did there--every mortal thing I did there, sir," Hatchings asseverated, and he wiped his brow.
"H'm!" said Mr.Flexen.

"As you passed through the library, did you happen to notice whether the knife was in its place in the big inkstand ?" Hutchings hesitated, and his lips twitched.

Then he said: "Yes, I did, sir.

It was in the big inkstand." Mr.Flexen could not make up his mind whether he was telling the truth or not.