"What I propose," I said bluntly, "is this. Let Harriet Kingdon bear the obloquy of the crime—it can't harm her now—besides, she largely deserves it. My evidence and Godfrey's will show that Lucy Kingdon had no hand in it, so there'll be no danger of wronging her. Let us see that Marcia Lawrence is placed in proper hands and receives proper care. Perhaps she may yet——"
"Marcia Lawrence!" he repeated hoarsely. "What has she to do with this case, Mr. Lester?"
The question, the expression of his face, brought me to my feet. I was trembling so that I caught at the chair for support. I saw it all. In an instant, I saw it all!
"Then it wasn't Miss Lawrence——"
"Nonsense! Not at all!" he broke in testily. "It was Harriet Kingdon."
CHAPTER XXII
Light at Last!
I sank back into my chair, overcome by such a flood of relief and thankfulness that I could not speak. But Dr. Schuyler laboured under no such disability.
"I cannot understand," he said, and I saw by his flushed face that he was genuinely angry, "how you could have got the preposterous idea that Marcia Lawrence was connected in any way with this affair. Any sane man would have seen the utter absurdity of such a theory."