“How long was the light out?” Roberts put in.
“I should say, not more’n a minute or so. I was that scared when I heard the sounds, I can’t tell about the length of time properly. But it wasn’t two minutes, I’m sure, between the studio light going off and me turning it on.”
“Would you have turned it on, if Mrs. Faulkner hadn’t told you to?”
Blake considered. “I can’t say. I think, yes, for I heard that ‘Help!’ distinctly, for all it was so faint. And I think, if I’d been on my own, I’d ’a’ gone ahead. At such times a servant has to use his judgment, sir.”
“Right you are, Blake,” said Bobsy, who had taken a liking to the footman. “Now, tell us all you know of the whereabouts of every member of the family—of the household.”
“I don’t know much as to that. You see, I was on the hall, and I could only see those who passed through it.”
“Well, go clear back, to dinner time, and enumerate them.”
“Before dinner, everybody was in the Drawing Room, that’s over the dining room, at the East end of the house. Then they all came down the grand staircase to dinner, and of course I saw them then. After dinner, the ladies had their coffee on the Terrace and the gentlemen stayed at the table. Then, when the men came out of the dining room, they pretty much scattered all over the house. Everybody was in the studio at one time, and then some went to the Billiard Room or in this Reception Room we’re now in, or up to the Drawing Room. Then, about eleven, Mr. and Mrs. Truxton went home, and I showed them out. And Mrs. Faulkner and Mr. Wadsworth were in the hall at the same time. But after the Truxtons went, Mrs. Faulkner and Mr. Wadsworth went up to the Drawing Room. You see,—er——”
“What, Blake?”
“Well, if I may say it, sir, he’s—er—sweet on her, and they two went off by themselves.”