There was a distinct feeling of anti-climax now that she was no longer there, and Robert paid her the tribute of a reluctant admiration. It was no small achievement to steal the interest from an outraged heroine.
"You have no objections to letting Miss Kane see the relevant parts of the house, Miss Sharpe?" Grant asked.
"Of course not. But before we go further I should like to say what I was going to say before you brought Miss Kane in. I am glad that Miss Kane is present to hear it now. It is this. I have never to my knowledge seen this girl before. I did not give her a lift anywhere, on any occasion. She was not brought into this house either by me or by my mother, nor was she kept here. I should like that to be clearly understood."
"Very well, Miss Sharpe. It is understood that your attitude is a complete denial of the girl's story."
"A complete denial from beginning to end. And now, will you come and see the kitchen?"
3
Grant and the girl accompanied Robert and Marion Sharpe on the inspection of the house, while Hallam and the police matron waited in the drawing-room. As they reached the first-floor landing, after the girl had identified the kitchen, Robert said:
"Miss Kane said that the second flight of stairs was covered in 'something hard, but the same carpet continues up from the first flight."
"Only to the curve," Marion said. "The bit that 'shows. Round the corner it is drugget. A Victorian way of economising. Nowadays if you are poor you buy less expensive carpet and use it all the way up. But those were still the days when what the neighbours thought mattered. So the lush stuff went as far as eye could see and no further."
The girl had been right about the third flight, too. The treads of the short flight to the attic were bare.