“Oh, just around my own place; and for a moment I strolled over here because the Steps looked so beautiful in the moonlight.”
“You were alone?”
“I was. I have no house guests at present, save the Count; and as my brother, who lives with me, is on a Western trip, I was alone, and I walked about to kill time until Count Charlier should return after his bridge game over here.”
“Did you walk near the house, while on the Garden Steps’ estate?” asked Scofield, scenting a possible espionage of her titled visitor.
“Oh, no!” and the witness bristled with indignation; “why should I! I was not really an acquaintance of Miss Carrington, merely a neighbor.”
“Beg pardon, ma’am, but I saw you on the conservatory verandah,” said Haskins, in a deprecatory way.
“That is not true, Mr. Coroner,” said the lady, glancing scornfully at the butler. “I beg you will not accept a servant’s statement in preference to mine!”
“You are sure of this, Haskins?” said the Inspector gravely.
“Yes, sir. Sure, sir.” and the man looked doggedly certain, though a little scared.
“And you deny it?” went on Scofield to Mrs. Frothingham.