Page:Alice Stuyvesant - The Vanity Box.djvu/179

 any use if I could, for I never heard of the Hereward case."

"What! Never heard of the Hereward murder case over a week ago!" exclaimed Gaylor, surprised that a human being could have existed in such cloistered ignorance.

"Are you talking of the Herewards of Friars' Moat?" asked the housekeeper.

"Yes."

"Who was murdered?"

"Lady Hereward. Is it possible you haven't seen in the papers"

"Why should I see the papers? 'Tain't likely I'd spend my money on 'em, and Mr. James, my master, cares for nothing but old books, the older the better. I'm no woman to gossip with butcher, baker nor candle stick-maker; and I wouldn't have come across your advertisement if it hadn't stared me in the face, wrapped around a fish. When was her ladyship murdered?"

Gaylor told her.

"Who did it?" was the next question.

That's what we don't know yet, otherwise I wouldn't be here," said the detective.

"I suppose you don't think I did it, do you?" Miss Maunsell demanded with scorn. "Lady Hereward was a Christian woman; that is, if she was as good at heart as what she seemed. But the better she was, the better off she is in the next world.