“What do you mean by ‘seemed to’?”
“How do you know he has not been plotting your destruction all the time?”
“It is not possible.”
“It is possible! Wait a minute. You have been in no end of trouble since you met him, haven’t you?”
“Yes, but——”
“How do you know he has not been at the bottom of it all?”
“Ridiculous!”
“Nothing of the sort!” persisted the Virginian warmly. “It would be like the unaccountable acts of a madman. He might get you into all this trouble, Frank, so that he could pretend to save you.”
“Why should he do that?”
“Who can account for the actions of a madman? He wishes to make himself notorious. He had wished that you should believe him very wonderful. He may have plotted against you all the time, and——”