"Isn't it a fact, Mr. Innes, that you took Mr. Bailey away from the
club-house because you were afraid there would be blows?"
"The situation was unpleasant," Halsey said evasively.
"At that time had you any suspicion that the Traders' Bank had been
wrecked?"
"No."
"What occurred next?"
"Mr. Bailey and I talked in the billiard-room until two-thirty."
"And Mr. Arnold Armstrong came there, while you were talking?"
"Yes. He came about half-past two. He rapped at the east door, and I
admitted him."
The silence in the room was intense. Mr. Jamieson's eyes never left
Halsey's face.
"Will you tell us the nature of his errand?"
"He brought a telegram that had come to the club for Mr. Bailey."
"He was sober?"
"Perfectly, at that time. Not earlier."
"Was not his apparent friendliness a change from his former attitude?"
"Yes. I did not understand it."
"How long did he stay?"
"About five minutes. Then he left, by the east entrance."
"What occurred then?"
"We talked for a few minutes, discussing a plan Mr. Bailey had in mind.
Then I went to the stables, where I kept my car, and got it out."
"Leaving Mr. Bailey alone in the billiard-room?"
Halsey hesitated.
"My sister was there?"
Mrs. Ogden Fitzhugh had the courage to turn and eye Gertrude through
her lorgnon.
"And then?"
"I took the car along the lower road, not to disturb the household.
Mr. Bailey came down across the lawn, through the hedge, and got into
the car on the road."
"Then you know nothing of Mr. Armstrong's movements after he left the
house?"
"Nothing. I read of his death Monday evening for the first time."
"Mr. Bailey did not see him on his way across the lawn?"
"I think not. If he had seen him he would have spoken of it."
"Thank you. That is all. Miss Gertrude Innes."
Gertrude's replies were fully as concise as Halsey's. Mrs. Fitzhugh
subjected her to a close inspection, commencing with her hat and ending
with her shoes. I flatter myself she found nothing wrong with either
her gown or her manner, but poor Gertrude's testimony was the reverse
of comforting. She had been summoned, she said, by her brother, after
Mr. Armstrong had gone.
She had waited in the billiard-room with Mr. Bailey, until the
automobile had been ready. Then she had locked the door at the foot of
the staircase, and, taking a lamp, had accompanied Mr. Bailey to the
main entrance of the house, and had watched him cross the lawn.
Instead of going at once to her room, she had gone back to the
billiard-room for something which had been left there. The card-room
and billiard-room were in darkness. She had groped around, found the
article she was looking for, and was on the point of returning to her
room, when she had heard some one fumbling at the lock at the east
outer door. She had thought it was probably her brother, and had been
about to go to the door, when she heard it open. Almost immediately
there was a shot, and she had run panic-stricken through the
drawing-room and had roused the house.