human
Mrs. Willis,
gpt
Well, Mrs. Willis, I hear you have something to tell me?
human
Indeed no, sir, exclaimed the woman, picking nervously at her gloves.
gpt
It is nothing at all. Only when I 'eard you asking about carriages in the night, I says to Mrs. Jones--well, one passed, I know that. Leastways, it didn't exactly pass; it stayed.
human
The carriage stayed; where?
gpt
It wasn't a carriage.
human
It wasn't a carriage and it stayed? Can't you explain yourself more clearly, Mrs. Willis? This isn't a conundrum, is it?
gpt
It was a car, a motor-car,
human
A car! And it stopped? Where?
gpt
I couldn't say exactly, but not far from our cottage.
human
And where is your cottage?
gpt
On the 'ighroad near the long lane.
human
I see. The coroner was obviously excited.
gpt
Your husband is one of the gardeners here, isn't he?
human
Yes, sir.
gpt
So there is doubtless a path connecting your cottage with the castle grounds?
human
Yes, sir.
gpt
About how far from your cottage was the car?
human
I didn't see it, sir; I just 'eard it; but it wasn't far, that I know,
gpt
Did you hear any one pass through your garden?
human
No, sir.
gpt
Could they have done so without your hearing them?
human
They might.
gpt
Was the car going to or coming from Newhaven?
human
It was coming from Newhaven.
gpt
Then it must have stopped at the foot of the long lane.
human
Yes, sir; that's just about where I thought it was.
gpt
Is there a path connecting Long Lane with the highroad?
human
Yes, a narrow one.
gpt
What time was it when you heard the car? Now try and be very accurate.
human
I wouldn't like to swear, sir, but I think it was between eleven and twelve.
gpt
Did your husband hear it also?
human
No, sir, 'e was fast asleep, but I wasn't feeling very well, so I had got up thinking I'd make myself a cup of tea, and just then I 'eard a car come whizzing along, and then there was a bang. Oh, says I, they've burst their wheel, that's what they've done, me knowing about cars. I know it takes a bit of mending, a wheel does, so I wasn't surprised when I 'eard no more of them for a time--and I 'ad just about forgotten all about them, so I had, when I 'ears them move off.
gpt
And they did not pass your cottage?
human
No, sir, I'm sure of that.
gpt
Did you hear anything else?
human
Well, sir --the woman fidgeted uneasily,
gpt
I thought--but I shouldn't like to swear to it--not on the Bible--but I fancied I 'eard a cry.
human
What sort of a cry? Was it a man or a woman's?
gpt
I really couldn't say--and perhaps what I 'eard was not a cry at all----
human
Well, well--this is most important. A motor-car that is driven at half-past eleven at night to the foot of a lane which leads nowhere but to the castle grounds, and then returns in the direction it came from--very extraordinary--very. We must look into this,