That was exactly my own idea. I did not tell her so, however.
"She is very rich," I remarked. "She can free his estates and put him in his right position again."
"That is only a trifle," she declared. "Besides, he is not so poor as some people think. He could live differently now, only he is afraid that he would have to entertain and be entertained. He makes his poverty an excuse for a great many things, but as a matter of fact he is not nearly so embarrassed as people believe. The truth is he detests society."
"I do not blame him," I answered. "Society is detestable."
"At any rate, I cannot bring myself to believe that he is thinking seriously about that girl," she continued, anxiously. "I should hate to think so!"
"Men are enigmas," I remarked. "It is precisely the unexpected which one has always to expect from them."
"That is what they say about us," she said.
"Don't you think that most of the things that men say of women are more true about themselves? It seems so to me, at any rate."
She rose up suddenly, and came and stood over me. She held out her hands, and I gave her mine. My eyes were dim. It was strange to me to find any one who understood.
"Would you like to go away with me to-morrow--right away from here?" she asked, softly.
"To London. Everything is ready for us there; we only need to send a telegram. I think--perhaps--it would be good for you."
"I am sure of it," I answered, quickly. "I have a sort of fancy that if I stay here I shall go mad. The place is hateful."
"Poor child!" she said, soothingly. "You must make up your mind and come."
"I would not hesitate," I answered, "if only I could feel certain that--he would not come back here before Olive Berdenstein leaves."
"We can make sure of it," she said. "Write and tell him that it would not be safe; he ought not to come."
Our eyes met, and I felt impelled to ask her a sudden question.
"Do you believe that he killed her brother?"
She looked at me with blanched cheeks and glanced half-fearfully around. From where I sat I could see the black bending branches from that little fir plantation where he had been found.
"What else is there to believe?" she asked. "I heard him myself one awful day--it was long ago, but it seems only like yesterday--I heard him threaten to kill him if ever he found him near again. It was outside the gate there that they met, and then--in the church you remember----"