Gordon Lockwood, for one, could scarce control his impatience to hear the answer. For, only too well he remembered the letter he had found in the Doctor’s waste-basket. The words were graven in his brain.
Darling Anita: At the first glance of your brown eyes love was born in my heart. Life is worth living—with you in the world.
If love at first sight had been born in the man’s heart, must it not have found response in the girl’s? Or, even if not, could she have killed a man who felt thus toward her? Truly she was a mystery. For, the very fact that Waring had fallen in love with her, made possible, even plausible, her clandestine visit to him, and her possession of the money and jewel.
Could it be that the pretty little thing was merely a sly adventuress? That she cajoled Waring into giving her the valuables, and then—
No, Gordon Lockwood could not and would not believe any evil of the girl he loved. Even though she should admit her love for Waring, he would not lose faith in her.
“Answer me,” Cray demanded. “Answer this direct question directly. Did you love Doctor Waring?”
Almost like one hypnotized, Miss Mystery gave a helpless glance at her inquisitor and murmured a low, almost inaudible “yes.”
“Then why did you kill him?” Cray stormed at her.
“I—I didn’t.”
“You were there, in his study the night he—he died.”