Part 45 (1/2)
”What for?”
”I don't know. I didn't have any particular reason. I just stayed there watching.”
”Did you think the prisoner might return?”
”No,” replied the witness quickly. ”Why should I think that?”
”How long did you stay watching the house?”
”It might be a matter of ten minutes more.”
”And the prisoner didn't return during that time?”
”No,” replied the witness emphatically.
”What did you do after that?”
”I went to the Tube station.”
”Prisoner might have returned after you left?”
”I suppose he might,” replied the witness reluctantly.
”Well, now, witness, you say you stayed ten minutes after Holymead left, and during that time Sir Horace opened the window and leaned out of it?”
”Yes.”
”You saw him distinctly?”
”Yes.”
”You are sure it was Sir Horace Fewbanks?”
”Yes.”
”Now, witness,” said Mr. Walters, suddenly changing his tone to one of more severity than he had previously used, ”you have told us that you heard Sir Horace Fewbanks and the prisoner in the library while you stood in the wood by the garage, and that subsequently you saw Sir Horace leaning out of the window after the prisoner had gone. You are quite sure you were able to see and hear all this from where you stood?”
”Yes.”
”Are you aware, witness, that there is a large chestnut-tree at the side of the library, in front of the window?”
Kemp considered for a moment.
”Yes,” he said.
”And did not that tree obstruct your view of the library window?”
”No.”
”Witness,” said Mr. Walters solemnly, ”listen to me. This tree did not obstruct your view when you went to Riversbrook a week or so ago to decide on the nature of the evidence you would give in this court. It is bare of leaves now, and you could see the library window and even see into the library from where you stood. But I put it to you that on the 18th of August, when this tree was covered with its summer foliage, you could no more have seen the library window behind its branches than you could have seen the inhabitants of Mars. What answer have you got to that, witness?”