Page:Alice Stuyvesant - The Vanity Box.djvu/116

 way to visit Mrs. Barnard? No, she hadn't, nor had any idea her ladyship was there, though she left the farm sooner than she would have liked, perhaps about a quarter after four, in order to reach Friars' Moat by teatime, thinking that her mistress might be back and wanting something then. She had seen nobody in the woods but Miss Verney. No, not on the way back, but when going to the farm she had seen Miss Verney. On the way back she had met no one—that is, only the footman, from Friars' Moat. He had perhaps guessed that she (Kate) would be returning through the woods. No, she and Edward were not exactly engaged, though they had been near it once. They often had quarrels. Edward was of an odd disposition, and Kate was not sure whether she would do well to marry him or not. Her ladyship had advised her not to encourage him.

Here was another little detail not elicited by the first questioning of Kate Craigie by the police. She had not then mentioned the fact that her ladyship was against the match between her maid and the footman, or that she particularly disapproved of love-making in the servants' hall. But it was easy to believe that this might have been true, as it was well known that Lady Hereward, despite her many charities, held certain rather strict (some people called them "narrow-minded") views.

The coroner looked frowningly at Kate. Too many