“She seemed in a hurry, sir. In fact, she said that she was in a hurry.”
“Tell me what she said to you.”
“‘Sarah,’ she said, ‘I am in great haste. Tell my brother that I will write to him. I will also write to you.’”
“‘Will you not send for me to come to you?’ I asked her. ‘It will be the first time you have been without me in ten years,’ I urged; and she replied: ‘Perhaps.’ That was all. She was gone before I had a chance to say anything more.”
“Did you recognize her voice.”
“Of course.”
“Was she not coughing or laughing, or did she not hold her handkerchief over her mouth and nostrils while she was speaking to you?”
“Goodness, sir, how could you know that? Yes, sir, just before she spoke to me she put her handkerchief under her veil and——”
“And talked through it when she spoke to you. Very good, Sarah, I am beginning to think that your mistress had already gone when—but we won’t anticipate.”