So I shall not
hesitate to follow in his footsteps. I am going to make you face some
very plain facts."
"Mercy!" She laughed. "Mercy, Mr. Ashton-Kirk. I had not thought that
you could be so deliberately cruel!"
"In the first place, Miss Vale," he began, paying not the slightest
attention to her laughter or the mocking light in her eyes, "if you
had continued as you began, this matter would have been cleared up
before this, the newspapers would never have printed your name in
connection with it, and you would have been spared the mortification
of a detective at your doorstep."
"Is there one--outside?"
"There are several. If you venture out you will be followed wherever
you go."
The girl sank into a chair in a limp, rumpled sort of way; somehow the
idea of surveillance affected her more than anything else. Her face
became ashen; her hands shook distressfully as she clasped them
tightly together.
"When you allowed the fears and desires of Allan Morris to cloud your
reason, you made a mistake. You admitted as much when you came to me
after the murder; but instantly, upon seeing him again, you were as
before. He was struck with fear, and he communicated his terror to
you; as before you dreaded to trust anyone--even myself.
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