In answer to questions the witness explained that Cunningham had owed
him, in his opinion, four thousand dollars more than he had paid. It
was about this sum they had differed.

"Were you at home on the evening of the twenty-third--that is, last
night?"

The witness flung out more signals of distress. "Yes, sir," he said at
last in a voice dry as a whisper.

"Will you tell what, if anything, occurred?"

"Well, sir, a man knocked at our door. The woman she opened it, an' he
asked which flat was Cunningham's. She told him, an' the man he
started up the stairs."

"Have you seen the man since?"

"No, sir."

"Didn't hear him come downstairs later?"

"No, sir."

"At what time did this man knock?" asked the lawyer from the district
attorney's office.

Kirby Lane did not move a muscle of his body, but excitement grew in
him, as he waited, eyes narrowed, for the answer.