“I—I—”
“Remember, Wilkins, you are on oath to tell the truth, the whole truth.”
“Yes, sir.” The unhappy man glanced appealingly at the jury, but found no help there. They were all waiting expectantly for what was to follow. “I only caught a few words, sir. Miss Beatrice said: ‘And your price?’ ‘You know it,’ answered Mrs. Trevor. She said it in a voice that seemed to infuriate Miss Beatrice, who cried out: ‘You devil, get out of my way, or I may forget myself and strike you.’”
Everyone in the over-crowded rooms felt the shock of the testimony.
“What happened next?”
“Just then the front door bell rang loudly. Putting the telegram on the hall table, I went to answer it, and found Mrs. Macallister’s footman waiting in the vestibule. I started to tell Miss Beatrice, but at that moment she walked out of the library, with her cloak over her arm. When I helped her on with it she was trembling from head to foot.”
“What became of Mrs. Trevor?”
“I don’t know, sir. After the carriage drove off, I went first into the private office to fasten the windows, and from there into the other rooms. I think Mrs. Trevor must have gone upstairs when I was in the parlor. I went to bed very soon after.”
“Were you disturbed in the night?”
“No, sir. The servants’ quarters are all on the fourth floor. The house is well built and the walls are very thick. We couldn’t hear any sound up there, except the bells in the corridor, and they did not ring at all.”