“Yes, and while I can't suspect him of anything like crime, I hate, also, to suspect him of disloyalty to me.”
Her head went up with a proud gesture, and I suddenly knew that the thought of Hall's interest in another woman, affected her pride and her sense of what was due her, far more than it did her heart. Her fear was not so much that Hall loved another woman, as that his secrecy in the matter meant a slight to her own dignified position.
“I understand, Miss Lloyd, and I hope for the sake of all concerned, your surmise is not correct. But, with your permission, I feel it my duty to discover where Mr. Hall was that evening, even if to do this it is necessary to have professional assistance from headquarters.”
She shuddered at this. “It is so horrid,” she said, “to spy upon a gentleman's movements, if he is only engaged in his personal affairs.”
“If we were sure of that, we need not spy upon him. But to the eye of justice there is always the possibility that he was not about his personal affairs that evening, but was here in West Sedgwick.”
“You don't really suspect him, do you?” she said; and she looked at me as if trying to read my very soul.
“I'm afraid I do,” I answered gravely; “but not so much from evidence against him, as because I don't know where else to look. Do you?”
“No,” said Florence Lloyd.