whether ye'll be pleased--when I discovered all aboot Jean, and what
people were saying aboot her, and when I had made up my mind aboot Mr.
Bolitho, who was at one time the Member of Parliament for this toon, I
fell to thinking, and I was not long in assuring myself that Mr.
Bolitho was the same lad who came to the Highlands lang years syne as
Douglas Graham. Of course, I had heard a great deal about Paul
Stepaside, and being, as I tell't ye, a reasoning man, I put two and
two together. So I sent a letter to Jean, and asked her to meet me."

"A likely story!" said the judge.

"Like or not, it's true. And more than that, she came to see me on the
very night that young Wilson was murdered, so noo then!"

"Then you spoke to her that night?"

"Ay, I did. I thought to myself, 'Now that Jean has plenty of siller
she'll be glad to know the truth!'"

"And you told her the truth?"

"Ay, I did. I showed her your photograph which I'd brought with me.
We were standing under a street-lamp, and I showed it to her. And
there's not the slightest doot but she recognised you."

"What time was that?" asked the judge.

"It were late," said the man. "It must have been well after eleven
o'clock."

"How long was she with you?"

"A goodish time, for she had many questions to ask, and we talked a
good deal about old times. And I was not long in convincing her of the
truth, I can tell ye. Ay, man, but you should have seen her face when
she looked at your photograph. 'Oh, that's he, that's he!' she said."

"And then," said the judge, "did she come back here alone?"

"Nay, I walked back with her. Do ye think I'd be likely to allow a
lass who was to have been my ain sister-in-law to come hame alone?"

"In what part of the town did you meet?"

"It was near the part they call Howden Clough."

"And at what hour did you return?"

"Oh, it must have been after midnight. You see," went on the Scotsman
imperturbably, "I asked her to come and see me, and I fixed a late hour
because I thought--weel; she might be a little more leeberal late at
night than in the middle of the day. I have made a profound study of
women, and I was in want of money at the time, and I thought I could
make a better bargain with her. That's why I fixed a late hour for
meeting. But I brought her home safely, and left her at the door here.
It must have been in the early hours of the morning when I left her."

"Did you come into the house?"

"No; in