Chapter Twenty-TwoAbout a quarter of an hour later Miss Silver emerged from her own room and descended the stairs. There was no one in the hall, but just as she arrived on the bottom step Gladys ran out of the study.
‘Oh, miss,’ she said, ‘you’re wanted on the telephone. It’s a London call.’
Miss Silver did not hurry. She said, ‘Oh, thank you,’ and then, ‘Will you just show me—’ And when they were both in the study and she found that it was empty, she said in the voice which was so exactly that of a retired governess, ‘The call will not keep me for more than three minutes. There is something I want to ask you about. I wonder if you would be so kind as to go to my room and wait for me there.’
The call took its allotted three minutes and no more. Miss Silver’s remarks were few and cryptic
