Mrs Henderson put her hands under her apron and smirked.

’Well, Mr Phillips, it do sound strange to ‘ear you talkin’ to me like that.  Anybody’d think I’d done something as I didn’t ought to ‘a’ done to ’ear you going on.  As for what’s ’appened, I’ll tell you all I know with the greatest willingness on earth.  And as for bein’ careful, there ain’t no call for you to tell me to be that, for that I always am, as by now you ought to know.’

‘Yes,—­I do know.  Is that all you have to say?’

’Rilly, Mr Phillips, what a man you are for catching people up, you rilly are.  O’ course that ain’t all I’ve got to say,—­ain’t I just a-comin’ to it?’

‘Then come.’

’If you presses me so you’ll muddle of me up, and then if I do ’appen to make a herror, you’ll say I’m a liar, when goodness knows there ain’t no more truthful woman not in Limehouse.’

Words plainly trembled on the Inspector’s lips,—­which he refrained from uttering.  Mrs Henderson cast her eyes upwards, as if she sought for inspiration from the filthy ceiling.

’So far as I can swear it might ’ave been a hour ago, or it might ’ave been a hour and a quarter, or it might ’ave been a hour and twenty minutes—­’

‘We’re not particular as to the seconds.’

’When I ‘ears a knockin’ at my front door, and when I comes to open it, there was a Harab party, with a great bundle on ’is ’ead, bigger nor ’isself, and two other parties along with him.  This Harab party says, in that queer foreign way them Harab parties ’as of talkin’, “A room for the night, a room.”  Now I don’t much care for foreigners, and never did, especially them Harabs, which their ’abits ain’t my own,—­so I as much ’ints the same.  But this ’ere Harab party, he didn’t seem to quite foller of my meaning, for all he done was to say as he said afore, “A room for the night, a room.”  And he shoves a couple of ’arf crowns into my ’and.  Now it’s always been a motter o’ mine, that money is money, and one man’s money is as good as another man’s.  So, not wishing to be disagreeable—­which other people would have taken ’em if I ’adn’t, I shows ’em up ’ere.  I’d been downstairs it might ’ave been ’arf a hour, when I ‘ears a shindy a-coming from this room—­’

‘What sort of a shindy?’

’Yelling and shrieking—­oh my gracious, it was enough to set your blood all curdled,—­for ear-piercingness I never did ’ear nothing like it.  We do ’ave troublesome parties in ’ere, like they do elsewhere, but I never did ’ear nothing like that before.  I stood it for about a minute, but it kep’ on, and kep’ on, and every moment I expected as the other parties as was in the ’ouse would be complainin’, so up I comes and I thumps at the door, and it seemed that thump I might for all the notice that was took of me.’

‘Did the noise keep on?’

’Keep on!  I should think it did keep on!  Lord love you! shriek after shriek, I expected to see the roof took off.’