‘Suppose,’ said Alleyn, ‘that for the sake of argument I told you we knew positively that Mr Legge, while he held the darts in his left hand, put his right hand in his pocket for a moment—’

‘I’d say it was a lie. He didn’t. He never put his hand in his pocket.’

‘What makes you so positive, Mr Pomeroy?’

‘For one thing he was in his shirt sleeves.’

‘What about his waistcoat and trousers’ pockets?’

‘He hadn’t a waistcoat. His sleeves was rolled up and I was watching his hands. They never went near his trousers’ pockets. He held the darts in his left hand and I was watching the way he felt the points, delicate like, with the first finger of his other hand. He was saying they was right-down good darts; well made and well balanced.’ Will leant forward and scowled earnestly at Alleyn.

‘Look ‘ee here, sir,’ he said. ‘If Bob Legge meant any harm to they darts would he have talked about them so’s we all looked at the damn’ things? Would he, now?’

‘That’s a very sound argument,’ agreed Alleyn. ‘He would not.’

‘Well, then!’

‘Right. Now the next thing he did was to throw all six darts, one after the other, into the board. He had six, hadn’t he?’

‘Yes. There were six new ‘uns in the packet. Usual game’s only three, but he took all six for this trick.’

‘Exactly. Now, what did he do after he’d thrown them?’

‘Said they carried beautiful. He’d thrown the lot round the centre very pretty. Mr Watchman pulled ‘em out and looked at ‘em. Then Mr Watchman spread out his left hand on the board and held out the darts with his right. “Fire ahead,” he says, or something like that.’

Alleyn uttered a short exclamation and Will looked quickly at him.

‘That wasn’t brought out at the inquest,’ said Alleyn.

‘Beg pardon? What wasn’t?’

‘That Mr Watchman pulled out the darts and gave them to Mr Legge.’

‘I know that, sir. I only thought of it today. I’d have told Mr Harper next time I saw him.’

‘It’s a little odd that you should not remember this until a fortnight after the event.’

‘Is it then?’ demanded Will. ‘I don’t reckon it is. Us didn’t think anything at the time. Ask any of the others. Ask my father. They’ll remember all right when they think of it.’

‘All right,’ said Alleyn. ‘I suppose it’s natural enough you should forget.’

‘I know what it means,’ said Will quickly. ‘I know that, right enough. Mr Watchman handled those darts, moving them round in his hands like. How could Bob Legge know which was which after that?’

‘Not very easily, one would suppose. What next?’