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He had formerly visited at Stanhill, but it was too long for his young cousins to remember him. His countenance was thoroughly good-humoured; and his manners were as friendly as the style of his letter. Their arrival seemed to afford him real satisfaction, and their comfort to be an object of real solicitude to him.
Why did you tell me a lie? Come, out with it!" "You are too abrupt, Merrington," said Captain Stanhill, interposing with unexpected firmness. "You have frightened her. Come, Mrs. Rath," he said gently, "can you not give us some explanation as to why you misled us this morning?" "Because I didn't want my daughter to be drawn into this dreadful thing," she exclaimed wildly.
"If there is anything to be learnt we are more likely to find it out from them than the guests. Trust the backstairs for knowing what's going on upstairs! Servants want skilful handling, though. You've got to know when to bully and when to coax. Half measures are no good with them." Captain Stanhill did not reply.
"Miss Heredith will be able to give us more information than Sir Philip," remarked Merrington in a friendly tone to Captain Stanhill, as the door closed behind the subordinate officials. "A woman is generally more observant than a man particularly if anything underhand has been going on." Captain Stanhill cast a puzzled glance at his companion.
I remembered this woman's face this morning, but I could not then recall where I had seen her before," pursued Merrington, turning to Captain Stanhill and speaking with a sort of reflective cruelty. "Her daughter's face supplies the clue. She is the image of her mother as I remember her when she stood her trial at Old Bailey fifteen years ago. She was tried for " "I beg of you not to say it!" Mrs.
The thing is to question as many as we can get hold of before they go. As some of them knew Mrs. Heredith before her marriage, we may elicit something about her or her antecedents which will throw some light on the motive for the crime." "I do not think Sir Philip will care to have his guests questioned," remarked Captain Stanhill doubtfully.
She masked the fact beneath a well-bred semblance of grief and horror, but it was plain as a pikestaff to me. But, after thinking over all the circumstances, I came to the conclusion that she had nothing whatever to do with it." "Such a possibility is inconceivable," exclaimed Captain Stanhill. "A lady like Miss Heredith would never commit murder."
"But all the guests did not go upstairs," observed Captain Stanhill, who was following his companion's remarks with close attention. "Some stayed in the dining-room. Tufnell, the butler, made that quite clear when you were examining him this morning." "Yes a few hysterical females cowering and whimpering with fear as far away from the door as possible," retorted Merrington contemptuously.
"Her bedroom is directly over the dining-room. If the murderer escaped by the window he must have dropped on to this gravel path." "It is a pretty stiff drop," said Captain Stanhill, measuring the distance with his eye. "Oh, I don't know," replied Merrington.
There was a girl, Milly Saker, whom I did not see. Why was that?" It seemed to Captain Stanhill that the tension of the housekeeper's face relaxed, and that a look of relief came into her eyes, as though the question were different from the one she had expected. "I did not tell you a lie," she replied, in a firmer tone. "I sent in all the servants who were in the house at the time.
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