“I am sorry to trouble you again,” said Parker, politely.
“You can’t help yourself, I suppose.” She avoided his eyes, and lit a fresh cigarette from the stump of the last.
“I just want to have any details you can give me about General Fentiman’s visit to his sister. Mrs. Mitcham brought him up to her bedroom, I understand.”
She gave a sulky nod.
“You were there?”
She made no answer.
“Were you with Lady Dormer?” he insisted, rather more sharply.
“Yes.”
“And the nurse was there too?”
“Yes.”
She would not help him at all.
“What happened?”
“Nothing happened. I took him up to the bed and said, ‘Auntie, here’s General Fentiman.’ ”
“Lady Dormer was conscious, then?”
“Yes.”
“Very weak, of course?”
“Yes.”
“Did she say anything?”
“She said ‘Arthur!’ that’s all. And he said, ‘Felicity!’ And I said, ‘You’d like to be alone,’ and went out.”
“Leaving the nurse there?”
“I couldn’t dictate to the nurse. She had to look after her patient.”
“Quite so. Did she stay there throughout the interview?”
“I haven’t the least idea.”
“Well,” said Parker, patiently, “you can tell me this. When you went in with the brandy, the nurse was in the bedroom then?”
“Yes, she was.”
“Now, about the brandy. Nellie brought that up to you in the studio, she tells me.”
“Yes.”
“Did she come into the studio?”
“I don’t understand.”
“Did she come right into the room, or did she knock at the door and did you come out to her on the landing?”
This roused the girl a little. “Decent servants don’t knock at doors,” she said, with a contemptuous rudeness; “she came in, of course.”
“I beg your pardon,” retorted Parker, stung. “I thought she might have knocked at the door of your private room.”
“No.”
“What did she say to you?”
“Can’t you ask her all these questions?”
“I have done so. But servants are not always accurate; I should like your corroboration.” Parker had himself in hand again now, and spoke pleasantly.
“She said that Nurse Armstrong had sent her for some brandy, because General Fentiman was feeling faint, and told her to call me. So I said she had better go and telephone Dr. Penberthy while I took the brandy.”
All this was muttered hurriedly, and in such a low tone that the detective could hardly catch the words.
“And then did you take the brandy straight upstairs?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Taking it straight out of Nellie’s hands? Or did she put it down on the table or anywhere?”
“How the hell should I remember?”
Parker disliked a swearing woman, but he tried hard not to let this prejudice him.
“You can’t remember—at any rate, you know you went straight on up with it? You didn’t wait to do anything else?”
She seemed to pull herself together and make an effort to remember.
“If it’s so important as that, I think I stopped to turn down something that was boiling.”
“Boiling? On the fire?”
“On the gas-ring,” she said, impatiently.
“What sort of thing.”
“Oh, nothing—some stuff.”
“Tea or cocoa, or something like that, do you mean?”
“No—some chemical things,” she said, letting the words go reluctantly.
“Were you making chemical experiments?”
“Yes—I did a bit—just for fun—a hobby, you know—I don’t do anything at it now. I took up the brandy—”
Her anxiety to shelve the subject of chemistry seemed to be conquering her reluctance to get on with the story.
“You were making chemical experiments—although Lady Dormer was so ill?” said Parker, severely.
“It was just to occupy my mind,” she muttered.
“What was the experiment?”
“I don’t remember.”
“You can’t remember at all?”
“No!” she almost shouted at him.
“Never mind. You took the brandy upstairs?”
“Yes—at least, it isn’t really upstairs. It’s all on the same landing, only there are six steps up to Auntie’s room. Nurse Armstrong met me at the door, and said ‘He’s better now,’ and I went in and saw General Fentiman sitting in a chair, looking very queer and gray. He was behind a screen where Auntie couldn’t see him, or it would have been a great shock to her. Nurse said, ‘I’ve given him his drops and I think a little brandy will put him right again.’ So we gave him the brandy—only a small dose, and after a bit, he got less deathly-looking and seemed to be breathing better. I told him we were sending for the doctor, and he said he’d rather go round to Harley Street. I thought it was rash, but Nurse Armstrong said he seemed really better, and it would be a mistake to worry him into doing what he didn’t want. So I told Nellie to warn the doctor and send William for a taxi. General Fentiman seemed stronger then, so we helped him downstairs and he went off in the taxi.”
Out of this spate of words, Parker fixed on the one thing he had not heard before.
“What drops were those the Nurse gave him?”
“His own. He had them in his pocket.”
“Do you think she could possibly have given him too much? Was the quantity marked on the bottle?”
“I haven’t the remotest idea. You’d better ask her.”
“Yes, I shall want to see her, if you will kindly tell me where to find her.”
“I’ve got the address upstairs. Is that all you want?”
“I should just like, if I may, to see Lady Dormer’s room and the studio.”
“What for?”
“It’s just a matter of routine. We are under orders to see everything there is to see,” replied Parker, reassuringly.
They went upstairs. A door on the first-floor landing immediately opposite the head of the staircase led into a pleasant, lofty room, with old-fashioned bedroom furniture in it.
“This is my aunt’s room. She wasn’t really my aunt, of course, but I called her so.”
“Quite. Where does that second door lead to?”
“That’s the dressing-room. Nurse Armstrong slept there while Auntie was ill.”
Parker glanced in to the dressing-room, took in the arrangement of the bedroom and expressed himself satisfied.
She walked past him without acknowledgment while he held the door open. She was a sturdily-built girl, but moved with a languor distressing to watch—slouching, almost aggressively unalluring.
“You want
