"If she asked you to let her in, I do not see how you could refuse her. Was it in the morning or late in the afternoon she came?"
"Don't you know, ma'am? I thought you knew all about it from the way you talked."
Had I been indiscreet? Could she not bear questioning? Eying her with some severity, I declared in a less familiar tone than any I had yet used:
"Nobody knows more about it than I do, but I do not know just the hour at which this lady came to the house. But I do not ask you to tell me if you do not want to."
"O ma'am," she humbly remonstrated, "I am sure I am willing to tell you everything. It was in the afternoon while I was doing the front basement floor."
"And she came to the basement door?"
"And asked to be let in?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Young Mrs. Van Burnam?"