‘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.  Still, he is sometime very careful indeed, and so he was on that particular evening.  You remember that his rooms have French windows —­ a convenient arrangement.  The front door may be locked and bolted, but people come and go for all that.’

‘That’s the bungalow, is it?’ muttered Carnaby.  ’And how often do you pretend you have heard her voice?’

‘Only that once.’

It was worse than if she had answered ‘Several times.’  Hugh looked long at her, and she bore his gaze with indifference.

‘You don’t pretend that you saw her?’

‘No, I didn’t see her.’

‘Then, if you are not deliberately lying, you have made a mistake.’