"But I acquitted you on both counts, Mr.Grant, on hearing, and even seeing, how you spent Monday evening." Grant, who had cooled down considerably, found a hint of badinage in this comment.
"You have evidently been told that Miss Martin and I were star-gazing in the garden of my house," he said.

"It happens to be true." "Oh, yes.

There was a very fine cluster of small stars in Canis Major, south of Sirius, that night." "You know something about the constellations, then ?" was the astonished query.
"Enough for the purposes of Scotland Yard," smirked Furneaux, who had checked P.C.

Robinson's one-sided story by referring to Whitaker's Almanack.

"It may relieve your mind if I tell you that I have never seen a real live astronomer in the dock.