“Please, Hannah!” begged Mary Louise. “We’ll promise not to tell anybody about the robbery—not even our mothers. If you’d just answer a couple of questions——”
The woman eyed her suspiciously.
“You think maybe I done it?” she demanded. “Well, I didn’t! Miss Mattie knows how honest I am. William too—that’s me husband. We’ve been in this house ever since Miss Mattie was a girl, and the whole family knows they can trust us.”
“Oh, my goodness!” exclaimed Mary Louise. “I’m not suspecting you, Hannah! All I want is a little information.”
“You’re not going to the police and tell what you know? Or to some detective?”
“No. On my word of honor, no! Jane and I are going to try to be detectives ourselves, that’s all. For Elsie’s sake.”
The woman’s expression softened. After all, Mary Louise’s brown eyes had a winning way.
“All right. Only hurry up. I got a lot of work to do.”
Mary Louise smiled. “I’ll be quick,” she promised. “I just want to know whether you think there was any time during the day or evening—before Miss Grant went to bed—when a burglar could have entered the house without being seen or heard.”
Hannah stopped beating the cake which she had been mixing while this conversation was taking place and gave the matter her entire consideration.