Page:Anna Katharine Green - Leavenworth Case.djvu/33

Rh other." And the juryman lifted the very long and heavy watch-chain that hung across his vest as if that as well as himself had a right to a suitable and well-considered reply. The butler, impressed perhaps by his manner, glanced uneasily around. "Yes, sir, so far as I know." "The young ladies were attached to their uncle?" "O yes, sir." "And to each other?" "Well, yes, I suppose so; it's not for me to say." "You suppose so. Have you any reason to think otherwise?" And he doubled the watch-chain about his fingers as if he would double its attention as well as his own. Thomas hesitated a moment. But just as his interlocutor was about to repeat his question, he drew himself up into a rather stiff and formal attitude and replied: "Well, sir, no." The juryman, for all his self-assertion, seemed to respect the reticence of a servant who declined to give his opinion in regard to such a matter, and drawing complacently back, signified with a wave of his hand that he had no more to say. Immediately the excitable little man, before mentioned, slipped forward to the edge of his chair and asked, this time without hesitation: "At what time did you unfasten the house this morning?" "About six, sir." "Now, could any one leave the house after that time without your knowledge?" Thomas glanced a trifle uneasily at his fellow-servants, but answered up promptly and as if without reserve: