"Let's see if we can work it out! When did you first leave the house?"
"At six o'clock," she answered readily. "As the clock in the hall was striking. I had finished all I had to do ages before, but Mrs. Haddington won't let me go till six."
"What did you do then?"
"I walked to Green Park Station, and caught a train to Earl's Court."
"You live in Nevern Place, don't you? Say five to seven minutes walk each end. And then?"
She frowned in an effort of memory. "I lit the gas-fire in my room, and took off my - no, I didn't! I put the household books, and the loose accounts, into my bureau. It was then that I looked to make sure I'd got the cheque, and found I hadn't. I carried the books back in my attache-case, you see. It - it sounds silly, but I thought if I sneaked back here at once, Mrs. Haddington would be dressing for dinner, and wouldn't know anything about it. It was the kind of thing she used to be very unpleasant about, and I should never have heard the end of it if she'd caught me here tomorrow morning collecting the cheque. Wasting my employer's time through my own thoughtlessness. That sort of thing! So I came back."
"By tube?"
"Yes, by tube. I - I had a key, and I was able to slip in without anyone hearing, and come into this room."
"Not too fast!" said Hemingway. "Let's go back for a minute! Before you left the house at six o'clock, did anyone come to see Mrs. Haddington?"
She hesitated. "I didn't see anyone, but I did hear the front door bell ring once or twice."