“What do you mean, you don’t know?”
“I don’t know who Mr. Thoyne is, I—I never heard of him.”
“You are in his house.”
“Yes”
“Where are the other people—the servants—the housekeeper—?”
“There is nobody here but me, gentlemen, truly there is nobody here. I am alone in the house, me, Silas Ballaker, seventy-seven—”
“How long have you been in this house?”
“Not long—I came to-day—”
“Came to-day—what do you mean, you came to-day?”
“Sir, I am Silas Ballaker and—”