“Sure?”
“Quite sure.”
“Do you know the name of Stanbridge?”
“Oh, yes, I know that name. I’ll show you where she lives if you want her. I shall have to pass the house.”
“I don’t want to see her. What I want to know is, has she a lodger with her of the name of Crowdace?”
The name of the gentleman whom the detective was inquiring for was of course a pure invention.
“I never heard that she had, but mother will be able to tell you; she works there occasionally.”
“Is there any gentleman lodger there?”
“Well, there you bother me. She don’t take no lodgers, I believe, but there is a gentleman or two there occasionally.
“Is she a married lady?”