Gibbs rose abruptly and left the room.
“He’s gone for Mrs Everett,” said Richard, looking severely at his aunt. “Now, you must be careful, Aunt Letty. If you don’t look out, they’ll accuse you of the murder, and though you’ll disprove it, it will mean a whole lot of trouble for us all.”
Letitia Prall adored her nephew, and, too, she saw there was no use of trying to avoid the meeting with Mrs Everett. It was bound to be brought about, sooner or later, by the determined Gibbs, and it might as well be gone through with.
She sat still, thinking what attitude it was best to assume, and she decided on continued silence.
“Eliza,” she warned, “don’t talk too much. You’ll get us in an awful predicament if you’re so free with your tongue. First thing you know, you’ll tell——”
“Hush, they’re coming!” and in a moment Gibbs rang the bell.
Richard admitted him, and with him came both Adeline Everett and the maid, Kate.
“I didn’t invite your servant,” was Miss Prall’s only word of greeting, accompanied by a scathing glance at Kate.
“You didn’t invite me,” Mrs Everett returned, pertly, “and I shouldn’t have come if you had, except that I was commanded to appear by a representative of the law. I don’t see, though, why I should be mixed up in your murder case.”
“It isn’t my murder case any more than it is yours, Adeline Everett,” her enemy faced her. “I understand you’re suspected of being——”