"What about what?" he asked.
"About this last half-hour."
"You mean where have I been? I went down into the cellar. I went to get that liqueur."
"That doesn't take half an hour—and it certainly didn't take this particular half-hour."
To this Esdaile made no reply.
"Come," said Hubbard again after a pause. "You admitted just now that you thought you heard something."
The words came slowly. "Did I? Yes, I remember. But it was all muffled. Honestly, I couldn't tell from the sound that it was—that it was all this."
"Was that when you were down there, or as you were going down, or when?"
"I'd just got down, I think."
"But didn't you wonder what was the matter? What kept you all that time? And what's the matter with you now that you have come up?"