“Well, that depends on how you approach it. By road it must be almost two miles, but if you use the little footpath that cuts across the meadows north of the house, it can’t be less than a mile.”
“Do you know where that path comes out?”
“I believe that it comes out by a little summerhouse or playhouse on the Thorne estate.”
“Far from the gardener’s cottage?”
“Oh, no—Miss Page said that it was quite near it, I think. She had been using it to take the children over to the playhouse on several occasions—and as it was quite without Mrs. Ives’s knowledge, I spoke to my son about it.”
“Did other members of the household make use of this path?”
“Not to my knowledge.”
“Now, Mrs. Ives, when Mrs. Patrick Ives passed you in the garden, did she speak to you?”
“Yes.”
“Just what did she say?”