Page:The achievements of Luther Trant - Balmer and MacHarg - 1910.djvu/71

Rh "The papers say the attack was made ten minutes after two o'clock—that the watch in his pocket was broken and stopped by his fall at exactly ten minutes after two. Is that correct?"

"Yes," the inspector replied. "The watch stopped at 2.10; but, in spite of that, the exact time of the murder must have been nearer two than ten minutes later, for Mr. Bronson's watch was fast."

"What?" Trant cried. "You say his watch was fast? I had not heard of that!"

"It was noticed two days ago," the inspector explained, "that the record shows that the patrolman who found Bronson's body rang up from the nearest patrol box at five minutes after two. If the attack was made just before, the watch must have been at least ten minutes fast, so we have the time, after all, only approximately."

"I see." Trant turned to the girl. "It is strange, Miss Allison, that a man like Mr. Bronson carried an incorrect watch."

"He did not. It was always right."

"Was it right that evening?"

"Why, yes. I remember that he compared his time with our clock before leaving."

Trant leaped up, excitedly. "What? What? But still," he calmed himself, "whether at two or ten minutes after two, the main question is the same. You, too, Miss Allison, can you give no possible reason why Mr. Bronson might have gone out?"

"I have tried a thousand times in these terrible two weeks to think of some reason, but I cannot. Our house is in a different direction than that he took.