Page:Burton Stevenson--The marathon mystery.djvu/286



E sat looking at him a moment in silence. It was evident that he was suffering some exquisite mental anguish, though I suspected, somehow, that it was not because of his imprisonment. There was something deeper than that; something that touched him more closely…

“Oh, come, Jack,” protested Godfrey, at last, “this is no time to put on the high and mighty. You don’t seem to realise what an exceedingly serious position you’re in.”

“I know one thing, Godfrey,” returned Drysdale, with a forced smile, “and that is that I didn’t kill Graham nor steal the necklace. So I know they can’t convict me.”

“I wouldn’t be too sure of it; things like that happen occasionally. How did Graham get hold of that button off your raincoat?”

“I’m sure I don’t know.”

“You wore the coat that evening?”

“Yes.”

“And the button was on it?”

“Yes—I’d have missed it, if it hadn’t been. Besides, I buttoned the coat up when I started back to the house.”

Godfrey’s face flushed and his eyes began to glisten.