"Might it not have been later--or earlier ?" "I am sure it was just after seven," I replied.

"I'll tell you why: I had just returned from dinner and while I was unlocking the door Big Ben on the House of Parliament struck--" She raised her hand.
"No matter," she said, and there was a touch of iron in her voice.
"You are no longer sure of that.

Thinking it over, you have come to the conclusion that it may have been barely six-thirty when you heard the noise of a struggle." "Indeed ?" said I.I tried to sound sarcastic, but I was really too astonished by her tone.
"Yes--indeed!" she replied.

"That is what you will tell Inspector Bray when next you see him.

'It may have been six-thirty,' you will tell him.
'I have thought it over and I am not certain.'" "Even for a very charming lady," I said "I can not misrepresent the facts in a matter so important.