"Then, in your opinion, she couldn't have had anything to do with this disappearance—advised it, perhaps assisted in it?"
"No," he said decidedly; "that's absurd."
"And yet——" I began.
"If you knew her," he interrupted, "you would see its absurdity. She has always been most kind to me. You saw——"
"Yes," I nodded.
"She has always been like that. She has treated me as a dearly beloved son ever since we told her of our engagement."
"There has been no cloud?"
"Not the slightest! She seemed to share in her daughter's happiness and in mine. She has told me more than once that she thought fate had made us for each other."
"And she helped on the wedding-day?"
"In a thousand ways. She and Marcia worked together upon the trousseau. She helped with all the plans. Surely, Mr. Lester, if she objected, she wouldn't have waited till the last minute to make her objection known."