“Your housekeeper—she has been in your employ a long time, also?”
“About two years.”
“Was she well known to the murdered man?”
“Her acquaintance began with him at the same time as my own—less than a month ago.”
“How old is this lady?”
“She sits in the circle. You can ask her if you like. I have never put the question to her.”
Every one smiled at this sally. The housekeeper, a buxom woman of fifty years, flushed and giggled alternately.
“Where were your other servants at the time of the murder?”
“I suppose most of them were in bed. Sam, the negro boy, was in the kitchen, helping me to serve my guests.”