Half an hour before the alarm was given would be a quarter to eleven.

I have no doubt that what she heard was the report of the gun, and that this was the real instant of the murder.
"If this is so, we have now to determine what Barker and Mrs.Douglas, presuming that they are not the actual murderers, could have been doing from quarter to eleven, when the sound of the shot brought them down, until quarter past eleven, when they rang the bell and summoned the servants.

What were they doing, and why did they not instantly give the alarm?
That is the question which faces us, and when it has been answered we shall surely have gone some way to solve our problem." "I am convinced myself," said I, "that there is an understanding between those two people.

She must be a heartless creature to sit laughing at some jest within a few hours of her husband's murder." "Exactly.

She does not shine as a wife even in her own account of what occurred.