"Not if you must suffer more from your silence than from speaking? Not if men--I do not mean myself, child, for I am your friend--will think that _you_ are to blame for the death of the woman whom you saw fall under a cruel stab, and whose rings you have?"
"_I!_" Her horror was unmistakable; so were her surprise, her terror, and her shame, but she added nothing to the word she had uttered, and he was forced to say again:
"The world, and by that I mean both good people and bad, will believe all this. _He_ will let them believe all this. Men have not the devotion of women."
"Alas! alas!" It was a murmur rather than a cry, and she trembled so the bed shook visibly under her. But she made no response to the entreaty in his look and gesture, and he was compelled to draw back unsatisfied.
When a few heavy minutes had passed, he spoke again, this time in a tone of sadness.
"Few men are worth such sacrifices, Miss Oliver, and a criminal never. But a woman is not moved by that thought. She should be moved by this, however. If either of these brothers is to blame in this matter, consideration for the guiltless one should lead you to mention the name of the guilty."
But even this did not visibly affect her.
"And Franklin proceed on his way undisturbed?"
She tried not to answer, but the words would come. Pray God! I may never see such a struggle again.
"That is as God wills. I can do nothing in the matter." And she sank back crushed and wellnigh insensible.
Mr. Gryce made no further effort to influence her.
"She is more unfortunate than wicked," was Mr. Gryce's comment as we stepped into the hall. "Nevertheless, watch her closely, for she is in just the mood to do herself a mischief. In an hour, or at the most two, I shall have a woman here to help you. You can stay till then?"
"That you must settle with Miss Althorpe. As soon as Miss Oliver is up I shall have a little scheme to propose, by means of which I hope to arrive at the truth of this affair. I must know which of these two men she is shielding."
"Then you think she did not kill Mrs. Van Burnam herself?"
"I think the whole matter one of the most puzzling mysteries that has ever come to the notice of the New York police. We are sure that the murdered woman was Mrs. Van Burnam, that this girl was present at her death, and that she availed herself of the opportunity afforded by that death to make the exchange of clothing which has given such a complicated twist to the whole affair. But beyond these facts, we know little more than that it was Franklin Van Burnam who took her to the Gramercy Park house, and Howard who was seen in that same vicinity some two or four hours later. But on which of these two to fix the responsibility of Mrs. Van Burnam's death, is the question."