“Alone, Maida? When you have your parents and me? What do you mean?”
“I can’t tell you, exactly, but I seem to want someone—someone with wide experience and educated judgment—to whom I can go for advice.”
“Won’t I do, dear?”
“You’re kind enough and loving enough—but, Jeff, you don’t know things! I mean, you haven’t had experience in—in criminal cases——”
“Come on, Maida, let’s have it out. What about this criminal case of ours? For it’s mine as much as it’s yours.”
“Oh, no, it isn’t, Jeff. You’ve nothing to do with it. I must bear my burden alone—and—I must ask you to release me from our engagement——”
“Which I will never do! How absurd! Now, Maida mine, if you won’t speak out, I must. I know perfectly well you never killed Mr. Appleby. I know, too, that you saw either your father or mother kill him and you’re trying to shield the criminal. Very right, too, except that you mustn’t keep the truth from me. How can I help you, dear, unless I know what you’re doing—or trying to do? So, tell me the truth—now.”
“I can’t tell you more than I have, Jeff,” Maida spoke with a long-drawn sigh. “You must believe me. And as a—a murderer, I never, of course, shall marry.”
“Maida, you’re a transparent little prevaricator! Don’t think I don’t realize the awful situation, for I do, but I can’t—I won’t let you sacrifice yourself for either of your parents. I don’t ask you which one it was—in fact, I’d rather you wouldn’t tell me—but I do ask you to believe that I know it wasn’t you. Now, drop that foolishness.”
“Jeffrey,” and Maida spoke very solemnly, “don’t you believe that I could kill a man? If he was so cruel, so dangerous to my father—my dear father, that I couldn’t stand it another minute, don’t you believe I’d be capable of killing him?”