"No, no, don't do that! Come back here. I'll tell you everything I know. After all, there's nothing that's confidential, and if you're going to get the facts I'd prefer that you get them from me. If Sam has even intimated Frank Oafley had anything to do with that fire, it's a dirty lie by which Sam hopes to save his own bacon!"
Mason sighed, then, with apparent reluctance, returned to his chair, sat once more on the arm and said, "We're willing to listen for a few minutes, Miss DeVoe, but you'll have to make it snappy. Our time is valuable, and"
She broke into swift conversation: "I understand all that. I thought at the time there was something funny about the fire. I told Frank Oafley about it and he said I should keep quiet. I screamed and tried to arouse Mr. Laxterthat's Peter Laxterthe old man. By that time the flames were all over that end of the house. I kept screaming, and groped my way up the stairs. It was hot there and smoky, but there weren't any flames. The smoke bothered me a lot. Frank came after me and pulled me back. He said there was nothing I could do. We stood on the stairs and yelled, trying to arouse Mr. Laxter, but we didn't get any answer. Lots of black smoke was rolling up the stairs. I looked back and saw some flames just breaking through the floor near the bottom of the stairs and I knew we had to get out. We went out through the north wing. I was almost suffocated with smoke. My eyes were red and bloodshot for two or three days."
"Where was Sam Laxter?"
"I saw him before I saw Frank. He had on pajamas and a bathrobe, and he was yelling 'Fire! Fire! He seemed to have lost his head."
"Where was the fire department?"
"It didn't get there until the place was almost gone. It was very isolated, you knowthe house."
"A big house?"
"It was too big!" she said vehemently. "There was too much work in it for the help they employed."
"What help was employed?"
"There was Mrs. Pixley; a girl named NoraI think her last name was AbbingtonI can't be certain; and then there was Jimmy Brandonhe was the chauffeur. Nora was sort of a general maidofallwork. She didn't live at the place, but came every morning at seven and stayed until five in the afternoon. Mrs. Pixley did all the cooking."
"And Charles Ashton, the caretakerwas he there?"
"Only occasionally. He kept the town house, you know. He'd drive in at times when Mr. Laxter would ask him. He'd been there the night of the fire."
"Where did Peter Laxter sleep?"
"On the second floor, in the south wing."
"What time did the fire take place?"
"Around one thirty in the morning. It must have been about quarter to two when I woke up. The house had been burning for some time then."
"Why were you employed? What was wrong with Mr. Laxter?"
"He'd been in an automobile accident, you know, and it had left him quite nervous and upset. At times he couldn't sleep and he had a dislike of drugs. He wouldn't let the doctor give him anything to make him sleep. I'd been a masseuse, and I massaged him when he had those nervous fits. It relaxed him. A bath in a tub of hot water, with the water running over his body, then a massage, and he could relax and sleep. And he had some heart complications. Sometimes I had to give him hypodermicsheart stimulants, you know."
"Where was Winifred the night of the fire?"
"She was asleep. We had some trouble getting her up. I thought for awhile the smoke had got her. Her door was locked. The boys nearly broke it down before they were able to wake her up."
"Where was she? In the north wing or the south wing?"
"Neither. She was in the center of the house, on the east."
"How about the two boyswhere did they sleep?"
"They were in the center of the house, on the west."
"And the servants?"
"All of them were in the north wing."
"If you were there as a nurse for Mr. Laxter, and he was having heart trouble, why didn't you sleep where you would be near him in case he was taken with a spell?"
"Oh, but I did. You see, he had an electric push button installed in his room, so that all he needed to do was to signal me and I could signal back, to let him know I was coming."
"How did you signal back?"
"A button that I pressed."
"That rang a bell in his room?"
"Yes."
"Why didn't you ring that the night of the fire?"
"We did. That was the first thing I did. I ran back and rang the bell repeatedly. Then, when we didn't hear from him, I started up the stairs. The fire must have burnt through the wires."
"I see. There was a lot of smoke?"
"Oh, yes, the central part of the house was simply filled with smoke."
"What was the trouble about the day before the fire?"
"What do you mean?"
"There'd been a row over something, hadn't there?"
"No not exactly. There'd been some trouble between Peter Laxter and Sam. I don't think Frank was mixed up in it."
"Was Winifred drawn into it?"
"I don't think so. It was just an argument between the old man and Sam Laxter. Something about Laxter's gambling."
"Have you any idea how the fire started?" Mason asked.
"Do you mean did someone set it?"
Mason said slowly and impressively, "You've dodged the issue long enough, Miss DeVoetell us what you know about the fire!"