"The time of the murder," said Bocaros, under his breath.
"Mr. Fane received a letter which made him turn pale. I took the letters up to him in the morning-room, as the man asked me to. When he opened the letter he turned pale, and put it into his pocket. Mrs. Fane was in the room. She looked sharply at him, but said nothing. But when I left they had a quarrel. At all events, Mrs. Fane looked furious all the day. Mr. Fane said he was ill with a cold----"
"Was he really ill?" asked the professor suspiciously.
"Well, he had a cold, but not a bad enough one to make him go to bed as he did. He took to his room, and Mrs. Fane attended to him herself. All day she was with him. Just before six she came out of his room, and told his man that he was asleep and was not to be disturbed. She then called me into her room, and told me that she had to go away on business. She did not want it to be known that she was out of the house, and asked me to put on one of her dresses and sit all the evening in the drawing-room till she came back."
"Did she explain why she went to town?"
"No. Nor did I ask. I never thought that anything was wrong. I fancied she might have gone up to see Mr. Frederick Mason, as she was always calling on him. She had quarrelled with her husband, so I thought the letter he received was about some business that was wrong----"
"What business?"
"The business of Mason & Son. Mr. Fane is a partner with Mr. Mason, but Mrs. Fane attends to matters. As I say, she often went to see her brother, and I thought she did so on this night unbeknown to Mr. Fane. For that reason, as I supposed, she wanted me to pretend to be her, so that neither he nor the servants would think she had been out of the house. I said Mr. Fane might want me, but she said he would not, as she had given him a sleeping-draught, and he would not awaken till the morning. Well, she paid me so well that I agreed. I put on her dress and sat in the drawing-room. She told the servants to go to bed when they liked, as she would require nothing more. So all the evening I was not disturbed, and the servants, thinking I had gone out--I made up a story for them," said Emily artfully--"never came near me. My mistress caught the six train up."
"At what time did she come back?"
"After midnight. She caught the last train down."