"Well?" asked Perry Toat, eagerly.
"Well," replied Miss Branwin, coolly, "that's all."
"But you had some conversation with her?"
"Yes. But she could tell me nothing. She merely repeated what she had said at the inquest--that she left my mother in bed and came up the stairs to the still-room."
"Did you mention anything about the discrepancy in time?"
"Oh!"--Audrey was really dismayed--"I quite forgot to."
"Ah, my dear young lady"--Perry Toat looked vexed again--"that is the most important question of the lot. Although, I daresay," she added consolingly, "you would not have had a true reply. I must look into the matter myself."
"There is nothing to be learnt, Miss Toat. I am quite sure that Madame Coralie is innocent."
"What makes you think so?"
"I observed her face, and she did not change colour. She told me all that I have told you with the greatest frankness."