Naturally the room turned to Jack. He answered the mute appeal very quietly.
“It was not myself that quarrelled with Pym. No angry word of any kind passed between us. Pym had been drinking; Mrs. Richenough is right in that. He was not in a state to be reproved or reasoned with, and I came away at once. I did not stay to sit down.”
“You hear this, Mrs. Richenough?”
“Yes, sir, I do; and I am sure the gentleman don’t speak or look like one who could do such a deed. But, then, I heard the quarrelling.”
An argument indisputable to her own mind. Sir Dace looked up and put a question for the first time. He had listened in silence. His dark face had a wearied look on it, and he spoke hardly above a whisper.
“Did you know the voice to be that of Captain Tanerton, Mistress Landlady? Did you recognize it for his!”
“I knew the voice couldn’t be anybody else’s, sir. Nobody but the captain was with Mr. Pym.”
“I asked you whether you recognized it?” returned Sir Dace, knitting his brow. “Did you know by its tone that it was Captain Tanerton’s?”
“Well, no, sir, I did not, if you put it in that way. Captain Tanerton was nearly a stranger to me, and the two shut doors and the passage was between me and him. I had only heard him speak once or twice before, and then in a pleasant, ordinary voice. In this quarrel his voice was raised to a high, rough pitch; and in course I could not know it for his.”
“In point of fact, then, it comes to this: You did not recognize the voice for Captain Tanerton’s.”