“And Mr. Carleton—has he a high temper?”
Mrs. Markham’s brow clouded. “I don’t understand that man,” she said slowly. “I don’t think he has a quick temper, but there’s something deep about him that I can’t make out. Oh, Mr. Fessenden, do you think he killed our Madeleine?”
“Do you?” said Fessenden suddenly, looking straight at her.
“I do,” she said, taken off her guard. “That is, I couldn’t believe it, only, what else can I think? Mr. Carleton is a good man, but I know Maddy never killed herself, and I know the way this house is locked up every night. No burglar or evil-doer could possibly get in.”
“But the murderer may have been concealed in the house for hours beforehand.”
“Nonsense! That would be impossible, with a house so full of people, and the wedding preparations going on, and everything. Besides, Mr. Hunt would have heard any intruder prowling around; and then again, how could he have gone out? Everything was bolted on the inside, except the front door, and had he gone out that way he must surely have been heard.”
“Well reasoned, Mrs. Markham! I think, with you, we may dismiss the possibility of a burglar. The time was too short for anything except a definitely premeditated act. And yet I cannot believe the act was that of Schuyler Carleton. I know that man very well, and a truer, braver soul never existed.”
“I know it,” declared Mrs. Markham, “but I think I’m justified in telling you this. Mr. Carleton didn’t love Madeleine, and he did love another girl. Madeleine worshipped him, and I think he came last night to ask her to release him, and she refused, and then—and then——”
Something about Mrs. Markham’s earnest face and sad, distressed voice affected Fessenden deeply, and he wondered if this theory she had so clearly, though hesitatingly, stated, could be the true one. Might he, after all, be mistaken in his estimate of Schuyler Carleton, and might Mrs. Markham’s suggestion have even a foundation of probability?
They were both silent for a few minutes, and then Mr. Fessenden said, “But you thought it was suicide at first.”