“If you please, madam.”
“Let me see.” She reflected a moment. “I was here. In this house.”
“Oh!” I saw the inspector’s eyes flash. “And your maid—you have only one maid, I think—can confirm that statement?”
“No, it was Hilda’s afternoon out.”
“I see.”
“So, unfortunately, you will have to take my word for it,” said Mrs. Lestrange pleasantly.
“You seriously declare that you were at home all the afternoon?”
“You said between six and seven, inspector. I was out for a walk early in the afternoon. I returned some time before five o’clock.”
“Then if a lady—Miss Hartnell, for instance—were to declare that she came here about six o’clock, rang the bell, but could make no one hear and was compelled to go away again—you’d say she was mistaken, eh?”
“Oh, no,” Mrs. Lestrange shook her head.
“But—”
“If your maid is in, she can say not at home. If one is alone and does not happen to want to see callers—well, the only thing to do is to let them ring.”
Inspector Slack looked slightly baffled.
“Elderly women bore me dreadfully,” said Mrs. Lestrange. “And Miss Hartnell is particularly boring. She must have rung at least half a dozen times before she went away.”