che in the flat across the
way: she corroborated his statement, you remember."

"Yes; I remember."

"Well, then?"

"Simple enough. Before starting I rigged up a kind of mannikin with old
coats and a cushion--something to cast a shadow on the blind. All
you fellows were used to seeing my shadow there in the small hours--I
counted on that, and knew you'd take any vague outline as mine."

"Simple enough, as you say. But the woman with the toothache saw the
shadow move--you remember she said she saw you sink forward, as if you'd
fallen asleep."

"Yes; and she was right. It DID move. I suppose some extra-heavy dray
must have jolted by the flimsy building--at any rate, something gave my
mannikin a jar, and when I came back he had sunk forward, half over the
table."

There was a long silence between the two men. Granice, with a throbbing
heart, watched Denver refill his pipe. The editor, at any rate, did not
sneer and flout him. After all, journalism gave a deeper insight than
the law into the fantastic possibilities of life, prepared one better to
allow for the incalculableness of human impulses.

"Well?" Granice faltered out.

Denver stood up with a shrug. "Look here, man--what's wrong with you?
Make a clean breast of it! Nerves gone to smash? I'd like to take you
to see a chap I know--an ex-prize-fighter--who's a wonder at pulling
fellows in your state out of their hole--"

"Oh, oh--" Granice broke in. He stood up also, and the two men eyed each
other. "You don't believe me, then?"

"This yarn--how can I? There wasn't a flaw in your alibi."

"But haven't I filled it full of them now?"

Denver shook his head. "I might think so if I hadn't happened to know
that you WANTED to. There's the hitch, don't you see?"

Granice groaned. "No, I didn't. You mean my wanting to be found
guilty--?"

"Of course! If somebody else had accused you, the story might have been
worth looking into. As it is, a child could have invented it. It doesn't
do much credit to your ingenuity."

Granice turned sullenly toward the door. What was the use of arguing?
But on the threshold a sudden impulse drew him back. "Look here,
Denver--I daresay you're right. But will you do just one thing to prove
it? Put my statement in the Investigator, just as I've made it. Ridicule
it as much as you like. Only give the other fellows a chance at it--men
who don't know anything about me. Set them talking and looking about. I
don't care a damn whether Y