It is a metaphor because it is comparing one thing to another.
Answer: The commander would understand the father's injury and will allow him to be excused.
Explanation:
Heriff Peters and County Attorney George Henderson pride themselves on their powers of detection and logical reasoning. But it is the two women, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale, who discover the clues and establish a motive amid seemingly innocuous items in the Wright home. The trifles with which the men say the women concern themselves turn out to be the key evidence that the men are looking for.
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