“The maid addressed her by that title. That is all I know. I heard her.”
“When did you see the lady’s maid last?”
“Last night. I think at Amberieux. about 8 p.m.”
“Not this morning?”
“No, sir, I am quite sure of that.”
“Not at Laroche? She did not come on board to stay, for the last stage, when her mistress would be getting up, dressing, and likely to require her?”
“No; I should not have permitted it.”
“And where is the maid now, d’you suppose?”
The porter looked at him with an air of complete imbecility.
“She is surely somewhere near, in or about the station. She would hardly desert her mistress now,” he said, stupidly, at last.