It was a mighty hot afternoon,
chief!"
"Not conclusive," Strawn growled.
"Then here's another straw to add to the weight of my conclusion,"
Dundee went on unshaken. "You remember that Janet Raymond was on the
front porch _watching for Sprague_, while the 'death hand of bridge' was
being played?... Oh, she tried to protect him.... Wait, I'll read you
the notes I made when I was questioning her. I looked them up while I
was waiting for you.... Here! I had said to Miss Raymond: 'You observed
Mr. Sprague toiling down the rutty road, hot and weary, but romantic in
the sunset?' And she answered, stammering: 'I--I wasn't looking that
way....' And I knew she was lying, knew that she had been taken
completely by surprise when Sprague suddenly appeared _from the rear of
the house_! What's more, she betrayed herself and him by admitting that
she was surprised. Then--because the girl is undoubtedly in love with
Sprague and was mortally afraid he had killed Nita Selim, she tried
frantically to throw suspicion on Lydia Carr, by telling how Lydia had
failed to answer Mrs. Dunlap's first ring--Good Lord! Wait a minute! I
want to think!" he interrupted himself to exclaim.
After a full minute, while he had stood very still, with his fingers
pressed against his closed eyes, Dundee began slowly:
"I believe that's it.
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