"But the law requires witnesses. A slander isn't a slander unless it's
uttered to your detriment before a third party. How different would be
Mr. Grant's action against you! Your well-wishers simply couldn't muzzle
you. Whether before your pot-house cronies or mere strangers, you charged
him openly with being a murderer. I'm sorry for you, Elkin, if ever you
come before a judge. He'll rattle more than my three guineas out of you.
Even now, you don't grasp the extent of your folly. Instead of telling me
how you spent that hour and a half on the night of the crime you have the
incredible audacity to threaten me, _me_, the man who has saved you from
jail. One more word, you miserable swab, and I'll let Robinson arrest
you. You'll be set free, of course, when I stage the actual villain, but
a few remands of a week each in custody will thin your hot blood. You
were with Peggy Smith after leaving the Hare and Hounds, making a fool of
an honest girl who thinks you mean to wed her. Yet you blather about
being 'practically engaged' to Doris Martin, a girl who wouldn't let you
tie her shoe-lace. You're an impudent pup, Fred, and you know it. But you
stock decent tea, so I'll take another cup. If you're wise, you'll take a
second one yourself. It's better for you than whiskey."

Elkin, despite all his faults, was endowed with the shrewdness
inseparable from his business, because no man devoid of brains ever yet
throve as a horse-dealer. He smothered his rage, thinking he might learn
more from this strange-mannered detective by seeming complaisance.

"You're a bit rough on a fellow," he growled sulkily, pouring out the
tea.

"For your good, my boy, solely for your good. Now, own up about Peggy."

"Yes. That's right. She'd prove an alibi, so your torn-fool case breaks