“There was lots of talk and idle gossip,” went on Mrs. Hawkes. “And even after the verdict was given, the talk went on just the same. You see it was known that nobody had any quarrel with Langford except the master, and it was known that Langford had had his notice, though why he got it was not rightly known.”
There was a pause, but still Rhoda refrained from asking any questions.
“And it never has been known,” added the housekeeper solemnly, “from that day to this.”
“I couldn’t have said anything to help,” said Rhoda at last in a stifled voice.
“Didn’t you see anything, or hear anything then?”
“Yes. I heard a noise in the drawing-room,” admitted Rhoda, “and I went out by the front door.”
“Yes, we knew that, for some one heard it shut. And that was one reason why we thought you must have known something.”
Rhoda suddenly sat up.
“Surely,” she said sharply, “nobody was so foolish and wicked as to think that Sir Robert, the best man in the world, had anything to do with it?”
The housekeeper answered quickly:—