"
"Of course--why wouldn't I?" said Miss Blake, defiantly.
"Why not, indeed?" repeated the learned gentleman, pensively. "Why
not?--Miss Blake being brave as she is witty. Well, you went
downstairs, and, as was the admirable custom of the house--a custom
worthy of all commendation--you found the doors opening from the hall
bolted and locked?"
"I did."
"And no sign of a human being about?"
"Except myself," supplemented Miss Blake.
"And rather wishing to find that some human being besides yourself was
about, you retraced your steps, and visited the servants' apartments?"
"You might have been with me," said Miss Blake, with an angry sneer.
"I wish I had," he answered. "I can never sufficiently deplore the fact
of my absence. And you found the servants asleep?"
"Well, they seemed asleep," said the lady; "but that does not prove that
they were so."
"Doubtless," he agreed. "Nevertheless, so far as you could judge, none
of them looked as if they had been wandering up and down the corridors?"
"I could not judge one way or another," said Miss Blake: "for the tricks
of English servants, it is impossible for anyone to be up to."
"Still, it did not occur to you at the time that any of them was
feigning slumber?"
"I can't say it did.
Pages:
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94