I was amused to see the Inspector straighten up and unconsciously plume himself a little as he prepared to question her and his voice was gentler and his manner more deferential than it had been.
"This is Miss Stanton, I believe, Miss Belle Stanton?" and he smiled encouragingly.
"Yes, Inspector," she answered.
"We will not detain you any longer than necessary, Miss Stanton, and you must not be nervous," he continued, still with the same reassuring manner, and she smiled sweetly at him in return.
I felt myself getting out of temper. What business had Dalton indulging in gallantry and platitudes when engaged on an official investigation that involved life and death? I fear my manner or expression must have suggested my feelings, for he resumed his business-like tone and conducted his examination from then on more tersely, though he could not quite abandon a little gallantry of manner.
"I believe, Miss Stanton, that you reside with Mrs. Bunce?" The answer was in the affirmative.
"And have you any knowledge of the finding of that ulster?"
"I understand from Mrs. Bunce that it was found in her hallway, though I did not see it there till later in the morning, and I do not know how it came there," was the answer.
"Did you ever see it before or have you any knowledge of its owner?"
"Yes," she said, "I have seen it a number of times when worn by Mr. Arthur White."