The Circular Staircase - Page 76/154

"Isn't it a fact, Mr. Innes, that you took Mr. Bailey away from the

club-house because you were afraid there would be blows?"

"The situation was unpleasant," Halsey said evasively.

"At that time had you any suspicion that the Traders' Bank had been

wrecked?"

"No."

"What occurred next?"

"Mr. Bailey and I talked in the billiard-room until two-thirty."

"And Mr. Arnold Armstrong came there, while you were talking?"

"Yes. He came about half-past two. He rapped at the east door, and I

admitted him."

The silence in the room was intense. Mr. Jamieson's eyes never left

Halsey's face.

"Will you tell us the nature of his errand?"

"He brought a telegram that had come to the club for Mr. Bailey."

"He was sober?"

"Perfectly, at that time. Not earlier."

"Was not his apparent friendliness a change from his former attitude?"

"Yes. I did not understand it."

"How long did he stay?"

"About five minutes. Then he left, by the east entrance."

"What occurred then?"

"We talked for a few minutes, discussing a plan Mr. Bailey had in mind.

Then I went to the stables, where I kept my car, and got it out."

"Leaving Mr. Bailey alone in the billiard-room?"

Halsey hesitated.

"My sister was there?"

Mrs. Ogden Fitzhugh had the courage to turn and eye Gertrude through

her lorgnon.

"And then?"

"I took the car along the lower road, not to disturb the household.

Mr. Bailey came down across the lawn, through the hedge, and got into

the car on the road."

"Then you know nothing of Mr. Armstrong's movements after he left the

house?"

"Nothing. I read of his death Monday evening for the first time."

"Mr. Bailey did not see him on his way across the lawn?"

"I think not. If he had seen him he would have spoken of it."

"Thank you. That is all. Miss Gertrude Innes."

Gertrude's replies were fully as concise as Halsey's. Mrs. Fitzhugh

subjected her to a close inspection, commencing with her hat and ending

with her shoes. I flatter myself she found nothing wrong with either

her gown or her manner, but poor Gertrude's testimony was the reverse

of comforting. She had been summoned, she said, by her brother, after

Mr. Armstrong had gone.

She had waited in the billiard-room with Mr. Bailey, until the

automobile had been ready. Then she had locked the door at the foot of

the staircase, and, taking a lamp, had accompanied Mr. Bailey to the

main entrance of the house, and had watched him cross the lawn.

Instead of going at once to her room, she had gone back to the

billiard-room for something which had been left there. The card-room

and billiard-room were in darkness. She had groped around, found the

article she was looking for, and was on the point of returning to her

room, when she had heard some one fumbling at the lock at the east

outer door. She had thought it was probably her brother, and had been

about to go to the door, when she heard it open. Almost immediately

there was a shot, and she had run panic-stricken through the

drawing-room and had roused the house.