"And have you no interest in her besides that?"
"Yes: she's been a very good friend to me. I haven't seen her for two years and more; but that was my fault."
"So I understand."
"What do you mean by that?'
"That if you had no interest in her she had an interest in you, strong enough to—to impel her to make my acquaintance."
"With some good end in view, presumably."
"With the end in view of giving me the information that—that she knew Dick."
"And do you call that taking an interest in me?"
"What do you think yourself?"
Once more I declined to give my impressions. Where Stroud was concerned I had nothing to say. Now that Vio knew something of the truth concerning him I wished not to influence her in any way. The matter seemed oddly far away from me. The tie between Vio and myself being broken in fact, as it soon would be in law, I preferred to leave the subject of my successor where it was.