She tried to recover her natural voice, as she answered quickly:
“In one moment, Sir Robert. Will you send for a doctor at once?”
“A doctor!” The voice was that of Jack Rotherfield.
“What has happened?” This was in Sir Robert’s voice.
There was a pause, during which Mrs. Hawkes heard other voices in a confused buzz.
“There has been an accident. A bad accident, I’m afraid.”
“Yes, yes. An accident. But I was the cause of it. I did it. Oh, God, let me come in, let me in.”
These words were uttered in the strong voice of Jack Rotherfield, and at the same moment there came a terrific lunge against the door, which he was trying to break open.
The stern voice of Sir Robert, remonstrating, had the desired effect of making the young man desist, and then the housekeeper heard her master giving orders to one of the men-servants to go at once for a doctor.
In the meantime Mrs. Hawkes had hurriedly recrossed the floor to the window, and made one more examination of the body of the woman lying in a heap on the rug under the window.