Bennett saw the net begin to close. He saw it a moment before Katharine loosed her arm from his grasp and walked quickly towards the group about the fire.
"May I tell you how she was dressed?" she demanded, trying to keep her voice steady. "She had on a nightgown and dressing-gown, with an outdoor coat over it."
Masters got up from the table. He blocked the light in the direction of the fireplace, so that Bennett could not see H. M.
"But no shoes," said Katharine. She opened and shut her hands. "Don't you see, Mr. Masters? No shoes; only mules. She couldn't have gone out there without shoes — overshoes something. And if she took them off afterwards they must have been wet, and they'd still be wet. Wouldn't they? Well, I went to her room this morning..:'
"Steady, Miss," said Masters quietly. "You didn't tell us this before."
"I never thought of it before! But this morning I went to her room after the smelling-salts. She always carries smelling-salts; that's the-well, that's how Louise is. And I noticed all the shoes and things she'd brought down with her: I'm sure of it, because yesterday she showed me all the new things she got in the States, you see? And none of them were even damp; because I was looking for a pair of warm slippers for her… You believe me, don't you?"
The fire crackled and popped during a silence, and Bennett could see flakes of snow sifting past the gray windows.
"I believe you, Miss," said Masters quietly. "It would be easy enough to hide away — a pair of galoshes, say. And I think it would be just as easy to find 'em again. Thanks, Miss, for calling it to my attention. Potted"
"Sir?"
"Got a couple of men here? Good! You heard it; you know what to look for. Any kind of damp shoes, any pair of overshoes or galoshes, in any room: No objection to looking in your room, Miss?"