Part 9 (1/2)

”It--it was gone.”

”Then it is clear that the child must have been taken away peaceably, without objection on his part. Had he struggled, cried, he would have dropped the ball, would he not?”

”I suppose so.”

”How long was your head turned from him--while you were--dreaming?”

”About a minute.”

”Not more?”

”No.”

”How do you estimate the time so closely?”

”I'm sure it could not have been longer. A minute is quite a long time.”

”What time was it when you got back to the house?”

”About--about one o'clock, I think.” The girl turned to Mrs. Stapleton for confirmation of her answer.

”It was a quarter-past one,” said Mrs. Stapleton, promptly. ”I noted the time particularly, because it was later than usual. Mary had orders to bring Jack back for luncheon not later than one.”

Duvall began to make some figures on a piece of paper. ”You fix the time of the boy's disappearance at 11.30. You say you hunted for him an hour.

That would be 12.30.” He looked at the girl searchingly. ”You arrived home at 1.15. That would mean that it took 45 minutes to get here.” He turned to Stapleton. ”Please send for your chauffeur, Francois.”

Mr. Stapleton rang a bell, and ordered the servant who responded to send in the chauffeur. Meanwhile Mary Lanahan was regarding Duvall with nervous apprehension.

”We must have hunted for him longer than I thought,” she said, at length.

Duvall made no reply, but waited until the arrival of the chauffeur. He proved to be a short, heavily built man, with long powerful arms, and a swarthy face--evidently from the south of France. His countenance was stolid and emotionless. He appeared the well trained servant.

Duvall addressed him at once. ”How long would it take you, my man, driving fast, to reach this house from the spot in the Bois where Master Jack was lost?”

The man responded at once. ”Ten minutes,” he said, ”easily.”

”What time was it when this woman,” the detective indicated the nurse, ”called to you, on discovering that the child was gone?”

”I do not know.”

”Have you no idea?”

”It must have been about twelve o'clock. We hunted for the boy till about one--then came home.”

”The nurse says it was half-past eleven.”

The man shrugged his shoulders. ”It may have been. I did not observe the time.”

”What were you doing?”