“No, sir; I’m afraid she isn’t. And Mr. Russell is out too.”
“Oh! That’s a nuisance.” Roger rubbed his chin a moment in thought; then he came to a sudden decision. “You read the Courier sometimes I expect, don’t you?” he asked unexpectedly.
“Yes, sir,” replied the maid in a puzzled voice. “Cook takes it in, she does.”
“She does, does she? Good for Cook! Well, look here, I’ve come down to Ludmouth specially for the Courier, to send them news about that accident you had here the other day.”
The girl’s face cleared. “Mrs. Vane? Oh, yes, sir! Then you’re a—a reporting gentleman, sir?”
“A reporting gentleman!” Roger laughed. “Yes, rather; that describes me to a T. Well, now,” he went on very confidentially, “the fact of the matter is this. I ran along to ask Mrs. Russell one or two questions, and I’m in too much of a hurry to wait for her. Now, do you think you could answer them for me instead?”
“Oh, yes, sir,” fluttered the maid. “I think I could. What would it be that you want to know?”
“Well, now; Mrs. Vane was coming here that afternoon, wasn’t she? And she never came. Now, I suppose you were in all the afternoon yourself, weren’t you?”
“Me, sir? Oh, no. I was on my holidays. I only got back yesterday.”
“I see. Rotten, coming back to work again, isn’t it? But the cook would have been in, of course?”