Then, suddenly, I recalled the sweet face, the clear gaze——
"It's a pretty theory, Godfrey," I said; "but I don't believe it. Have you ever seen Miss Lawrence?"
"No—not even her photograph. I tried to get one and failed," he added, with rueful countenance.
"She's a beautiful woman—she's more than that—she's a good woman. There's something Madonna-like about her."
"Most of the famous Madonnas," he said, smiling, "however virginal in appearance, were anything but Madonna-like in behaviour—Andrea del Sarto's, for instance."
With a little shiver, I remembered Mr. Royce's phrase—it was to the del Sarto Madonna he had compared her! Could I be wrong in my estimate of her, after all?
"There's no other theory will explain her flight," he repeated. "Presuming, of course, that she was sane."
"She was very sane," I said, in a low voice. "She was a self-controlled, well-balanced woman."
"And that she still loves Curtiss."
"I'm sure she does."