He watched Joicey stare at him with blind rage; he watched him stagger
and reach out groping hands for a chair, and he saw the huge defiance
evaporate, leaving Joicey a trembling mass of nerves.

"It's a lie," he said, mumbling the words as though they were dry bread.
"It's a damned, infernal lie!"

A long silence followed upon his words, and Joicey mopped his face with
his handkerchief, breathing hard through his nose, his hands shaking as
though he was caught by an ague fit.

"I'm in a corner," he said at last; "you've got the whip-hand of me,
Coryndon, but when I said I was not in Mangadone that night, I was
speaking the truth."

"You were splitting a hair," suggested Coryndon.

Joicey drew his heavy eyebrows together in an angry frown.

"Let that question rest," he said, conquering his desire to break loose
in a passion of rage.

"You went down Paradise Street some time after sunset. Will you tell me
exactly whom you saw on your way to the river house?"

Craven Joicey steadied his voice and thought carefully.

"I passed Heath, the Parson, he was coming from the direction of the
lower wharves, and was going towards Rydal's bungalow. I remember that,
because Rydal was in, my mind at the time; I had heard that his wife was
ill, probably dying, and just after I saw Absalom."

He paused for a moment and moistened his lips.

"Was he with anyone when you saw him?"

"No, he was alone, and he was carrying a parcel. Anyhow, that is all I
can tell you about him that night."

Joicey looked up as though he considered that he had said enough.

"And from there you went to the opium den," said Coryndon relentlessly.

The perspiration dripped from Joicey's hair, and he took up the threads
of the story once more.

"I went there," he said, biting the words savagely. "I was sick at the
time. I'd had a go of malaria and was as weak as a kitten. The place was
empty, and only Leh Shin was in the house, and whether he gave me a
stronger dose, or whether I was too seedy to stand my usual quantity, I
can't tell you, but I overslept my time."

He passed his hand over his face with a sideways look that was horrible
in its shamefacedness. Coryndon avoided looking at him in return, and
waited patiently until he went on.

"Leh Shin remained with me. He never leaves the house whilst I am
inside," continued Joicey. "I was there the night of the twenty-ninth
and the day of the thirtieth. Luckily it was a Sunday and there was n