He went into the next room, which had a branch telephone connection, and called up May. She was out, and he left an urgent message that she was to come, bringing Jasper with her, as soon as she returned. When he got back to his office, he found the girl as he had left her, sitting on the edge of a big armchair, plucking nervously at her handkerchief.
"I have heard about you," she said. "He mentioned you once—before we went to that Sussex cottage with Mr. Crawley. They were going to bring another lady, and I was to look after her, but he—"
"Who is 'he'?" asked Mr. Mann.
"My husband," said the girl.
"How long have you been married?" demanded the little man.
"I ran away with him a long time ago," she said. "It has been an awful life; it was Mr. Crawley's idea. He told me that if I married Mr. Merrill he would take me to see my mother and Jasper. But he was so cruel—"
She shuddered again.
"We've been living in furnished houses all over the country, and I have been alone most of the time, and he would not let me go out by myself or do anything."
She spoke in a subdued, monotonous tone that betrayed the nearness of a bad, nervous breakdown.
"What does your husband call himself?"