"Well, sir, not more than seventeen or eighteen, at the outside--though perhaps she might have been a little more or less--it's not easy to tell a young lady's age." "Did she strike you as being a lady? You know what I mean." "Yes, sir, I do. Well, sir, I daresay--I should say, sir, she was quite a lady; most certainly a lady; though plainly dressed; in fact, for a lady, almost shabby." "Did she and Mr Emmett appear to be upon good terms?" "Well, sir, I couldn't exactly say that they did." "What do you mean by that? On what sort of terms were they? Explain yourself, man." "Well, sir--for one thing she never uttered so much as a single word while I was in the room, neither to me nor to Mr Emmett; not even so much as yes or no when I handed her a dish. And she scarcely ate anything; and she never drank anything neither. Mr Emmett told me to fill her glass with champagne; but I don't believe she ever so much as put her lips to it--in fact, when I came in and found him there was her glass just as it was when I filled it. Mr Emmett, he did all the talking. From the way in which she sat right back in her chair--that's the chair in which she sat, sir--and never spoke or moved, it seemed as if she were frightened half out of her life of him." "Why should she be frightened? Did you hear him say anything to frighten her?" "No, sir, nothing I could swear to; but he kept speaking to her in a chaffing sort of way, which I could see she didn't like." "Did she seem to be angry?--in a bad temper?" "No, sir, not so much that as afraid of him." "When he went out to see this gentleman, did he leave her behind?" "Yes, sir, he did, on that chair; and I couldn't help noticing how queer she looked--so white that I couldn't help wondering if she was feeling ill." "Was she here when you found him?" "No, sir; the room was empty." "Did anyone see her go out of the room?--did you?" "No, sir; I haven't seen her since I saw her sitting in that chair." "Then where is she now? Where is she, Mr Elsey?" "I've no more idea than you have, Mr Tinney. As I've already tried to explain, till a moment or two ago I hadn't the faintest notion that there was a lady in the case." "Mrs Elsey, where is this interesting young lady?" Dorothy, behind the blind and the curtain, could scarcely refrain from shrieking: "Here!" Mrs Elsey shook her head. "That's more than I can tell you, Mr Tinney. Beyond knowing that a young lady came with Mr Emmett, I don't know anything. What Timmins has been telling you is all news to me."