Part 23 (1/2)
Clearly, the butler, restored to his sense of the responsibilities of his position, felt he had made a misstep and regretted it.
”Be quiet, madam!” Shane hurled at Eunice, and turning to the frightened Ferdinand, said: ”You tell the truth, or you'll go to jail!
At what time was this quarrel that you have admitted took place?”
Eunice stood, superbly indifferent, looking like a tragedy queen. ”Tell him, Ferdinand; tell all you know, but tell only the truth.”
”Yes, ma'am. Yes, sir; why, it was just before they went out.”
”Ah, before. Did they go out together?”
”No, sir. Mrs. Embury went later--by herself.”
”I told you that!” Eunice interposed. ”I gave you a detailed account of the evening.”
”You omitted the quarrel. What was it about?”
”It was scarcely important enough to call a quarrel. My husband and I frequently disagreed on trifling matters. We were both a little short-tempered, and often had altercations that were forgotten as soon as they occurred.”
”And that's true,” put in Miss Ames. ”For two people who loved each other to distraction, I often thought the Emburys were the most quarrelsome I ever saw.”
Shane looked sharply at the old lady. ”Is that so?” he said. ”Did you hear this particular quarrel, ma'am?”
”Not that I remember. If I did, I didn't take' much notice of it.”
”What was it about?”
”Oh, the same old subject. Mrs. Embury wanted--”
”Aunt Abby, hus.h.!.+ What are you talking about! Leave me to tell my own secrets, pray!”
”Secrets, ma'am?” Shane's cold blue eyes glistened. ”Who's talking of secrets?”
”n.o.body,” offered Hendricks. ”Seems to me, Shane, you're trying to frighten two nervous women into a confession--”
”Who said anything about a confession? What's to be confessed? Who's made any accusations?”
Hendricks was silent. He didn't like the man Shane at all, but he saw plainly that he was a master of his craft, and depended on his sudden and startling suggestions to rouse antagonism or fear and so gather the facts he desired.
”I'm asking n.o.body's secrets,” he went on, ”except in so far as I'm obliged to, by reason of my duty. And in that connection, ma'am, I ask you right here and now, what you meant by your reference to secrets?”
Eunice looked at him a moment in silence. Then she said, ”You have, I daresay, a right to ask that. And I've not the least objection to answering. Mr. Embury was the kindest of husbands, but it did not suit his ideas to give me what is known as an allowance. This in no way reflects on his generosity, for he insisted that I should have a charge account at any shops I wished. But, because of a whim, I often begged that I be given a stated and periodical allowance. This, I have no reason for not admitting, was the cause of most of our so-called 'quarrels.' This is what I should prefer to keep 'secret' but not if it is for any reason a necessary admission.”
Shane looked at her in undisguised admiration.
”Fine!” he e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed, somewhat cryptically. ”And you quarreled about this last night?”
”Last evening, before we went out.”
”Not after you came home?”
”No; the subject was not then mentioned.”