the man glared murder.

'Stop that, and tell me what you have to say.'

Mrs. Maskell raised the window again.

'You have compelled me, you see. It's a pity. I don't want to make
trouble.'

'What do you know of Redgrave?'

'I keep house for him at Wimbledon.'

'You?'

'Yes. I have done so for about a year.'

'And does he know who you are?'

'Well--perhaps not quite. He engaged me on the Continent. A friend of
his (and of mine) recommended me, and he had reason to think I should
be trustworthy. Don't misunderstand me. I am housekeeper--_rien de
plus_. It's a position of confidence. Mr. Redgrave--but you know him.'

The listener's face was tumid and discoloured, his eyes bloodshot. With
fearful intensity he watched every movement of Mrs. Maskell's features.

'How do you know I know him?'

'You've been at his place. I've seen you, though you didn't see me; and
before I saw you I heard your voice. One remembers voices, you know.'

'Go on. What else have you seen or heard?'

'Mrs. Carnaby has been there too.'

'I know that!' Hugh shouted rather than spoke. 'She was there with Mrs
Fenimore--Redgrave's sister--and several other people.'

'Yes; last summer. I caught sight of her as she was sitting in the
veranda, and it amused me to think how little she suspected who was
looking at her. But she has been there since.'

'When?'

Mrs. Maskell consulted her memory, and indicated a day in the past
winter. She could not at this moment recall the exact date, but had a
note of it. Mrs. Carnaby came at a late hour of the evening, and left
very early the next day.

'How are you going to make this lie seem probable?' asked Hugh, a
change of voice betraying the dread with which he awaited her answer;
for the time of which she spoke was exactly that when Redgrave had
offered himself as a partner in the firm of Mackintosh & Co. 'Do you
want me to believe that she came and went so that every one could see
her?'

'Oh no. I was new to the place then, and full of curiosity. I have my
own ways of getting to know what I wish to know. Remember, once more,
that it's very easy to recognise a voice. I told you that I was in a
position of confidence. Whenever Mr. Redgrave wishes for quietness, he
has only to mention it; our servants are well disciplined. I, of
course, am never seen by visitors, whoever they may be, and whenever
they come; but it happens occasionally that I see _them_, even when Mr.
Redgrave doesn't think it.