“Prepared?”
“The servants say you were much agitated at finding your uncle did not make his appearance at the breakfast table.”
“The servants!” her tongue seemed to cleave to the roof of her mouth; she could hardly speak.
“That when you returned from his room you were very pale.”
Was she beginning to realize that there was some doubt, if not actual suspicion, in the mind of the man who could assail her with questions like these? I had not seen her so agitated since that one memorable instant up in her room. But her mistrust, if she felt any, did not long betray itself. Calming herself by a great effort, she replied, with a quiet gesture—
“That is not so strange. My uncle was a very methodical man; the least change in his habits would be likely to awaken our apprehensions.”
“You were alarmed, then?”
“To a certain extent I was.”
“Miss Leavenworth, who is in the habit of overseeing the regulation of your uncle’s private apartments?”
“I am, sir.”