two in the morning
I listened to her with the most breathless attention , and was thunderstruck at the inconceivable artfulness with which she had mixed up truth and falsehood in her charge against my mistress and me . This was , in substance , what she now stated in my presence : After describing the manner of Mr. James Smith 's arrival at the Hall , the witness , Josephine Durand , confessed that she had been led to listen at the music-room door by hearing angry voices inside , and she then described , truly enough , the latter part of the altercation between husband and wife . Fearing , after this , that something serious might happen , she had kept watch in her room , which was on the same floor as her mistress 's . She had heard her mistress 's door open softly between one and two in the morning -- had followed her mistress , who carried a small lamp , along the passage and down the stairs into the hall -- had hidden herself in the porter 's chair -- had seen her mistress take a dagger in a green sheath from a collection of Eastern curiosities kept in the hall -- had followed her again , and seen her softly enter the Red Room -- had heard the heavy breathing of Mr. James Smith , which gave token that he was asleep -- had slipped into an empty room , next door to the Red Roam , and had waited there about a quarter of an hour , when her mistress came out again with the dagger in her hand -- had followed her mistress again into the hall , where she had put the dagger back into its place -- had seen her mistress turn into a side passage that led to my room -- had heard her knock at my door , and heard me answer and open it -- had hidden again in the porter 's chair -- had , after a while , seen me and my mistress pass together into the passage that led to the Red Room -- had watched us both into the Red Room -- and had then , through fear of being discovered and murdered herself , if she risked detection any longer , stolen back to her own room for the rest of the night . After deposing on oath to the truth of these atrocious falsehoods , and declaring , in conclusion , that Mr. James Smith had been murdered by my mistress , and that I was an accomplice , the quadroon had further asserted , in order to show a motive for the crime , that Mr. Meeke was my mistress 's lover ; that he had been forbidden the house by her husband , and that he was found in the house , and alone with her , on the evening of Mr. James Smith 's return . Here again there were some grains of truth cunningly mixed up with a revolting lie , and they had their effect in giving to the falsehood a look of probability . I was cautioned in the usual manner and asked if I had anything to say .