“I’d say, my lord, that she’d tell the young lady she’d go to make inquiries.”
“Quite so. She’d be sure to do that. But she needn’t go back again to Miss Blow. She could resume her interrupted duties. She could start off under-housemaiding again at the place she left off when Miss Blow rang the bell. I presume that, after a decent interval, say a quarter of an hour, Miss Blow would ring the bell again; this time the upper housemaid could go to her. That could be arranged, I suppose, Wilkins?”
“Certainly, my lord.”
“She, of course, would know nothing about Mr. Goddard; but she would promise to go and make inquiries. She would then get back to her upper-housemaiding and completely forget about Miss Blow. After another interval, this time probably a shorter one, say ten minutes, Miss Blow would ring the bell again. Then the cook could go to her, and, of course——”
“Beg pardon, my lord, but the cook wouldn’t go.”
“Couldn’t you arrange it, Wilkins?”
“No, my lord; it’s not the cook’s place to answer bells.”
“I forgot that,” said Lord Manton. “It was stupid of me. I should have remembered. I’m afraid, Wilkins, that you’d have to go yourself the third time. You would tell her that Mr. Goddard had left the house an hour before. It would be about an hour, wouldn’t it, Wilkins?”
“As near as I can go to it, it would be about that, my lord.”