"
In view of the mission of the caller who had departed a scant hour
previously, the boy's question startled me.
"Such was my testimony," I answered. "It was the truth."
"Naturally," said Lieutenant Fraser-Freer. "But--er--as a matter
of fact, we are here to ask that you alter your testimony. Could
you, as a favor to us who have suffered so cruel a loss--a favor
we should never forget--could you not make the hour of that
struggle half after six?"
I was quite overwhelmed.
"Your--reasons?" I managed at last to ask.
"I am not able to give them to you in full," the boy answered. "I
can only say this: It happens that at seven o'clock last Thursday
night I was dining with friends at the Savoy--friends who would
not be likely to forget the occasion."
The old general leaped to his feet.
"Norman," he cried, "I can not let you do this thing! I simply
will not--"
"Hush, father," said the boy wearily. "We have threshed it all
out. You have promised--"
The old man sank back into the chair and buried his face in his
hands.
"If you are willing to change your testimony," young Fraser-Freer
went on to me, "I shall at once confess to the police that it was I
who--who murdered my brother. They suspect me. They know that
late last Thursday afternoon I purchased a revolver, for which, they
believe, at the last moment I substituted the knife.
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