"Ann shrugged her shoulders. 'I can only tell you what I know, Mrs. Tufnell,' she said acidly. 'You can come down and see for yourself. The office is shut up and all the lights out.'
"'But didn't Mr. Leighton see Mr. Jessup?'
"'No, he didn't. Mr. Jessup told Mr. Leighton to wait, and then he went away without seeing him.'
"'That's funny,' Mrs. Tufnell remarked, dryly. 'What was Mr. Leighton doing in the house, then, all this time? I heard the front-door bell half an hour ago and more.'
"'That's no business of yours, Aunt Sarah,' the girl retorted pertly. 'And it wasn't half an hour, so there!'
"Mrs. Tufnell did not argue the point any further. Mechanically she went downstairs and ascertained in point of fact that the door of the office and the show-room on the ground floor were both locked as usual, and that the key of the office was outside in the lock. This was entirely in accordance with custom. Mrs. Tufnell, through force of habit, did just turn the key and open the door of the office. She just peeped in to see that the lights were really all out. Satisfied that everything was dark she then closed and relocked the door. Ann, in the meanwhile, stood half-way up the stairs watching. Then the two women went upstairs together. They had only just got back in their room when the front-door bell rang once more.
"'Now, whoever can that be?' Mrs. Tufnell exclaimed.
"'Don't trouble, aunt,' Ann said with alacrity. 'I'll run down and see.' Which she did. Again it was some time before she came back, and when she did get back to her room, she seemed rather breathless and agitated.
"'Some one for Mr. Jessup,' she said in answer to Mrs. Tufnell's rather acid remark that she had been gone a long time. 'He kept me talking ever such a while. I don't think he believed me when I said Mr. Jessup had gone.'
"'Who was it?' witness asked.