Superintendent Battle said, “If you please” at the same moment that Bill said, “Not if you don’t feel up to it.”

The Countess looked from one to the other, but the quiet, masterful eye of Superintendent Battle won the game.

“I could not sleep,” began the Countess. “The house⁠—it oppressed me. I was all, as you say, on wires, the cat on the hot bricks. I knew that in the state I was in it was useless to think of going to bed. I walked about my room. I read. But the books placed there did not interest me greatly. I thought I would come down here and find something more absorbing.”

“Very natural,” said Bill.

“Very often done, I believe,” said Battle.

“So as soon as the idea occurred to me, I left my room and came down. The house was very still⁠—”

“Excuse me,” interrupted the Superintendent, “but can you give me an idea of the time when this occurred?”