“Then Mrs. Silverdale and Mr. Hassendean went in to dinner? Did the housemaid wait at dinner?”
“No, sir. By that time she was feeling very bad, so I sent her to bed and looked after the dinner myself.”
“She hadn't touched the dishes, or anything of that sort?”
“No, sir.”
“And immediately after dinner, Mrs. Silverdale and Mr. Hassendean went out?”
The maid hesitated for a moment.
“Yes, sir. At least——”
Dr. Ringwood made his face grave.
“Tell me exactly what happened. One never can tell with these scarlet cases.”
“Well, sir, I was just going to bring in coffee when Mr. Hassendean said: ‘Let's have our coffee in the drawing-room, Yvonne. This room's a bit cold.’ Or something like that. I remember he didn't want the coffee in the dining-room, at any rate. So I went to get it; and when I came back with it they were sitting beside the fire in the drawing-room. I was going to take the tray over to them, when Mr. Hassendean said: ‘Put it down on the table over there.’ So I put it down and went away to clear the dining-room table.”