“‘Then I’ll have to put you out,’ says I, and took hold of her arm.  And at that she screamed and jerked herself away; and I grabbed her again, and just then Mr. Vantine opened the door there and came out into the hall.

“‘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.  I felt uneasy, some way; and I stood outside the door there listening; but I couldn’t hear nothing; and then I tapped, but there wasn’t no answer; so I tapped louder, with my heart somehow working right up into my mouth.  And still there wasn’t no answer, so I just opened the door and looked in—­and the first thing I see was him—­”

Rogers stopped suddenly, and caught at his throat again.

“I’ll be all right in a minute, sir,” he gasped.  “It takes me this way sometimes.”

“No hurry,” Grady assured him, and then, when his breath was coming easier, “What did you do then?”

“I was so scared I couldn’t scarcely stand, sir; but I managed to get to the foot of the stairs and yell for Parks, and he come running down—­and that’s all I remember, sir.”

“The woman wasn’t here?”

“No, sir.”

“Did you look through the rooms?”

“No, sir; when I found the front door open, I knowed she’d gone out.  She hadn’t shut the door because she was afraid I’d hear her.”

“That sounds probable,” agreed Grady.  “But what makes you think she killed Vantine?”

“Well, sir,” answered Rogers, slowly, “I guess I oughtn’t to have said that; but finding the door open that way, and then coming on Mr. Vantine sort of upset me—­I didn’t know just what I was saying.”

“You don’t think so now, then?” questioned Grady, sharply.

“I don’t know what to think, sir.”