“Was he at the house again?”
“Yes, three times.” Maud looked regretfully at the empty toast dish. “I asked him if he wanted a bed made up for his convenience, and he was real peevish. My, but he asks a lot of questions!”
“What about?” inquired Anna.
“Oh, where we were on Tuesday night, and if we heard anything unusual,” answered Maud with careless candor. “Didn’t seem to believe that we had all gone to bed the same as usual. I told him if we’d a known Mr. Austin was to have been murdered, o’ course we’d have waited up for it, so as to supply the police with details. That settled him for a time and then he wanted to know when I last saw Miss Judith Tuesday night.”
“So?” Anna leaned out of her chair and took up a box of candy from the bureau. “Help yourself, Maud. What did you say to Ferguson?”
Maud received the candy with eyes which sparkled as Anna put the box conveniently in front of her. Her craving for sweets had frequently earned her a reprimand from Mrs. Hale when that dame caught her in the act of purloining candy from the stock kept in the dining room.
“I told Ferguson that Miss Judith was undressing in her bedroom when I went upstairs.” Maud’s speech was somewhat impeded by a large caramel. “Then he wanted to know when we first heard o’ the murder—silly question, wasn’t it?”
“Very,” agreed Anna. “Considering he came upstairs and joined us just after Mrs. Hale had broken the news of Mr. Austin’s death. Men are silly creatures.”
“Some of ’em are,” amended Maud. “I never would call Mr. Robert Hale silly. Say, Miss Anna,”—and Maud hitched her chair close to the waitress—“do you s’pose he knows anything about the courting that went on between Miss Polly and his brother?”
“There isn’t anything that escapes Mr. Hale’s notice,” Anna responded dryly.