"I don't quite understand what you mean," she replied slowly.
Harding saw the momentary start, quickly recovered, that she gave at the question.
"Do you know he speculated both in shares and horse-racing?"
Still there was no reply, and Durham added, "Speculated and lost--heavily?"
"Not heavily," she exclaimed, flashing round upon him. "He did not lose heavily. He may have----"
She checked her words suddenly, closing her lips and turning her face away.
"Will you please finish your sentence, Mrs. Eustace?"
"He may have lost--sometimes; but he won as well. He had those shares--they may yet bring him in a fortune," she said, pointing to the papers on the table.
"Do you know if there was ever any official reference to his speculations?"
Harding could barely hear the words as, with bowed head, Mrs. Eustace replied.
"I did not quite catch your answer," Durham said quietly.
"I don't know," she said after a few moments' silence. "You had better ask the bank. I don't know anything about it."
"Perhaps you know why your husband was appointed to this branch?"
"I don't know anything about it," she replied in a low tone.
"It may save time if I tell you at once, Mrs. Eustace, that the general manager of the bank has put me in possession of all information regarding your husband--you will not improve the situation by denying what I know you thoroughly understand."
Mrs. Eustace looked up and met a glance which gave her the uncomfortable sensation of being looked through and through. She lowered her eyes more quickly than she had raised them, paled and then flushed blood-red.
"Your husband did not escape through the kitchen," Durham said in his even tone of voice.
"I have already said so," Mrs. Eustace replied, scarcely above a whisper.
The blood left her cheeks as she started. Harding saw her hands clasp tightly.
"And you secured the window on the inside after he had gone."
The monosyllable escaped her lips like the yap of a dog at bay.
"You secured the window on the inside after he had gone," Durham repeated in cold, unruffled tones.
Mrs. Eustace sprang to her feet and faced him.
"It's a lie," she cried. "The room was empty when I came to it."
"The room was empty, quite so. And the window was open. You closed and secured it."