Elizabeth Twitcher gazed at him with a growing suspicion in her eyes.
Then she said: "It isn't--it isn't a trap?"

"A trap? What kind of a trap? What on earth do you mean?" said Mr.
Manley, in a not unnatural bewilderment at the odd suggestion.

"You might be trying to take her off her guard," said Elizabeth Twitcher
in a tone of deep suspicion.

"Her guard against what?" said Mr. Manley, still bewildered.

Elizabeth's Twitcher's eyes lost some of their suspicion, and he heard
her breathe a faint sigh of relief.

"I thought as 'ow--as how some of them might have told you what his
lordship was going to do to her, and that she--she stuck that knife into
him so as to stop it," she said.

"What on earth are you talking about? What was his lordship going to do
to her?" cried Mr. Manley, in a tone of yet greater bewilderment.

"He was going to divorce her ladyship. He told her so last night when I
was doing her hair for dinner," said Elizabeth Twitcher.

She paused and stared at him, frowning. Then she went on: "And, like a
fool, I went and talked about it--to some one else."

Mr. Manley glared at her in a momentary speechlessness; then found his
voice and cried: "But, gracious heavens! You don't suspect her ladyship
of having murdered Lord Loudwater?"