Surprised, and possibly anxious, the District Attorney repeated himself.
"As her nephew," said he, "and the inheritor of the few savings she has left behind her, you can have but one wish on this subject, Mr. Mansell?"
But this attempt succeeded no better than the first. Beyond a slight compression of the lips, Mr. Mansell gave no manifestation of having heard this remark, and both Mr. Ferris and the detective found themselves forced to wonder at the rigid honesty of a man who, whatever death-giving blow he may have dealt, would not allow himself to escape the prejudice of his accusers by assenting to a supposition he and they knew to be false.
Mr. Ferris did not press the question.
"Mr. Mansell," he remarked instead, "a person by the name of Gouverneur Hildreth is, as you must know, under arrest at this time, charged with the crime of having given the blow that led to your aunt's death. The evidence against him is strong, and the public generally have no doubt that his arrest will lead to trial, if not to conviction. But, unfortunately for us, however fortunately for him, another person has lately been found, against whom an equal show of evidence can be raised, and it is for the purpose of satisfying ourselves that it is but a show, we have requested your presence here to-day."
A spasm, vivid as it was instantaneous, distorted for a moment the powerful features of Craik Mansell at the words, "another person," but it was gone before the sentence was completed; and when Mr. Ferris ceased, he looked up with the steady calmness which made his bearing so remarkable.
"I am waiting to hear the name of this freshly suspected person," he observed.
"Cannot you imagine?" asked the District Attorney, coldly, secretly disconcerted under a gaze that held his own with such steady persistence.
The eyeballs of the other flashed like coals of fire.
"I think it is my right to hear it spoken," he returned.