“Nothing could be simpler,” replied Miss Jerusha wearily. “They were glad of anything that would dishearten Mr. Farnsworth and cause him to restore Anna’s property to her. They never saw me, because nothing would tempt them to enter the main building except in daytime, and then not alone.”
“You always disappeared in the unfurnished attic room, yet James and Ralph, who examined it thoroughly, could find no place of exit.”
“That was yet simpler when understood. In that one short, happy summer with Anna I was one afternoon gathering clusters of grapes from the arbor which yet shades this end of the house, and noticed a locked door for which I could see no use. I spoke of it to Anna and she explained that it led by flights of narrow steps to a room just their width, off the back attic, and furnished with rows of hooks for meat. After the building of a meat house it was abandoned and almost forgotten.
“When we were forced to leave ‘My Lady’s Manor’ my plans were laid. There was no key to that door, but my brother, being a locksmith, had keys of every shape and size. I took the impression of the keyhole in wax and never gave up trying keys until I got one that would turn the rusty lock. Then, screened by the arbor, I could gain admittance any hour of the day or night.”
“But how could you get from the meat room to other parts of the house?”
“There is a sliding door in the partition which allowed the servants of that day to get meat from the room without unlocking the outer door. It fitted so perfectly that no one could detect it except by the knob, which I took care should be removed; and it would not occur to anyone that there was a narrow room between it and the outer weather-boarding of the house.”
“But the costume of Mrs. Joshua Farnsworth?”
“Anna gave it to me as a memento of her foster mother. I kept it on one of the hooks, and it was short work to don it. The meat room having no window, the light from my shaded lamp could not be seen from the outside. Here is the key. You can give it, with my compliments, to Mr. Courtney;” and again the scornful smile passed over her lips.
Mrs. Courtney saw in this a hint of dismissal and arose to go; moreover Miss Flint appeared weak and exhausted.
“But can I do nothing for you?” she asked. “It grieves me to leave you so alone.”