“Oh yes, sir.”
“Do you hear that, White?”
The detective nodded.
“She must have reached the house about half-an-hour before me,” he said, addressing the butler.
“That’s about right, sir.”
“But I understood,” went on Bruce, “that Sir Charles was not at home to ordinary callers?”
Thompson shuffled about somewhat uneasily. He wished now he had held his tongue.
“I had my orders, sir,” he murmured, in extenuation of his apparently diverse actions.
“Tell me what your orders were,” persisted Bruce.