“And you let him go because he had told you about your being followed? Why?”
Larose hesitated. “Well, partly because he seemed a harmless little fellow, and partly because I wanted him to try to find out who this following man was. He promised me he would try to scrape up an acquaintance with him.”
“And did you tell Colonel Hilary,” asked Skewes grimly, “that you had let a man off whom you had caught stealing his birds?”
“Not at the time, but I told him later after the man had been murdered.”
“Why didn't you tell him at the time?”
Larose reddened and looked uncomfortable. “Well, it isn't a very nice thing to tell any man,” he said haltingly, “that someone is spying on you when you're out walking with his wife.”
“But I shouldn't have given it a second thought if he had,” commented the
