She leaned forward slightly, but with a latent intensity that showed all her eagerness and concern. He was deeply troubled.
"You know I would do anything in my power for you," he said. His heart was sincere and glowing--but his mind instantly noted the qualification implied in the words, "my power."
And Elizabeth, with her quick intelligence, caught the significance of those words. She closed her eyes an instant. How hard he made it! Still, he was certainly within his rights.
"I want you to let my brother go," she said,
"I want you to let my brother go," she said
He compressed his lips, and she noted how very thin, how resolute they were.
"It does not altogether rest with me."
"You evade," she said. "Don't treat me--as if I were some politician." She was surprised at her own temerity. With some little fear that he might mistake her meaning, she, nevertheless, kept her gray eyes fixed on him, and went on:
"I came to ask you not to lay his case before the grand jury. I believe that is the extent of your power. I really don't know about such things." Her eyes fell, and she gently stroked the soft gray fur of her muff, as she permitted herself this woman's privilege of pleading weakness. "No one need be the loser--my father will make good the--shortage. All will be as if it never had been--all save this horrible thing that has come to us--that must remain, of course, for ever."