"'What's all this, Rogers?' he says. 'Who is this party?'
"But before I could answer, that wild cat had rushed over to him and
begun to reel off a string of French so fast I wondered how she got
her breath. And Mr. Vantine looked at her kind of surprised at first,
and then he got more interested, and finally he asked her in here and
shut the door, and that was the last I saw of them."
"You mean you didn't let the woman out?" demanded Grady.
"Yes, sir, that's just what I mean. I thought if Mr. Vantine wanted
to talk with her, well and good; that was his business, not mine; so
I went back to the pantry to help the cook with the silver, expecting
to hear the bell every minute. But the bell didn't ring, and after
maybe half an hour, I came out into the hall again to see if the
woman had gone; and I walked past the door of this room but didn't
hear nothing; and then I went on to the front door, and was surprised
to find it wasn't latched."
"Maybe you hadn't latched it," suggested Grady.
"It has a snap-lock, sir; when that woman slammed it shut, I heard it
catch."
"You're sure of that?"
"Quite sure, sir."
"What did you do then?"
"I closed the door, sir, and then come back along the hall.
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