“Who was present?”
“Mrs. Patrick Ives, Mrs. Daniel Ives, Mr. Ives, as usual.”
“Do you recall the conversation?”
“Oh, no, monsieur, I recall only that everyone talk as always about small things. It is my practice, like an experience’ waitress, serious and discreet, to be little in the dining room—only when serving, you understand.” The serious and discreet waitress eyed her interrogator with a look of bland superiority.
“Nothing struck you as unusual after dinner?”
“No, no.”
“You saw no one before you turned out the lights for the night?”
“Oh, yes, I have seen Mrs. Daniel Ives at that time, and she ask me whether Mrs. Ives have return, and I say no.”
“No one else?”
“Only the other domestics, monsieur. At a little past ten I retire’ for the night.”