“What time did you bring it up last night?”

“About quarter-past seven, I should say, sir.”

“And when did you take it into Mrs. Inglethorp’s room?”

“When I went to shut up, sir. About eight o’clock. Mrs. Inglethorp came up to bed before I’d finished.”

“Then, between 7:15 and 8 o’clock, the cocoa was standing on the table in the left wing?”

“Yes, sir.” Annie had been growing redder and redder in the face, and now she blurted out unexpectedly:

“And if there was salt in it, sir, it wasn’t me. I never took the salt near it.”