DONOHUE (below table R.). All the proof that I need. If she was innocent, why didn't she tell me all this when I first questioned her? Why did she wait until she knew that I had proof—that she had been in Spencer Lee's rooms?
WILLIAM. She was protecting my sister.
DONOHUE. Women don't hang together like that.
ROSALIE (upper end of table R.). Oh, they do, they do! The poor creatures!
DONOHUE (down R.). They do not. I know them. (He turns to WILLIAM.) She wasn't protecting your sister. She was protecting herself. She went for the letters, of course; and they had tea before she asked for them, not afterwards.
CROSBY (R.C. to L. of WILLIAM). How do you know that?
DONOHUE. She couldn't take tea with a man she's just killed.
WILLIAM. Why, damn you—— (Starts R.)
CROSBY (grabbing WILLIAM by shoulders). Billy!
WILLIAM (breaks up stage a few steps, then down stage again). I'm sorry. I didn't mean to lose my temper. I suppose we've got to take this thing calmly. Inspector, you honestly believe that Nelly killed this man?