"You're on," I said, shortly, but not annoyed at his perspicacity.
"Well, then, I assure you that Mrs. Schuyler is most desirous of locating Miss Van Allen. She is not so revengeful or vituperative as the sisters of her husband, but she feels it is due to her husband's memory to find his slayer, if possible. Now suppose you tell me what you know, and I promise to keep it an inviolate confidence except so far as it actually helps the progress of the wheels of justice."
"I do want to do what is best for Mrs. Schuyler's interests," I said, after I had thought a moment. "But, I must confess, I have a certain sympathy and pity for Victoria Van Allen. I cannot believe her guilty—"
"Then tell me frankly the truth. If you are right, and she is not the murderer, the truth can't harm her. And if she is the guilty person, you are compounding a felony, in the eyes of the law, to withhold your information."
Stone spoke a little sternly, and I realized he was right. If Vicky were untraceably hidden, all I could tell wouldn't hurt her. And, too, I couldn't see that it would, anyway. Moreover, as Stone said, I was making myself amenable to the law, by a refusal to tell all I knew, and since I was so aware of my own devotion to Ruth Schuyler, I felt I had no right to do anything that she would disapprove. And, I knew that a touch of feminine pique in her disposition would resent any consideration of Vicky over her own claims!
Therefore, I told Fleming Stone all I knew of Victoria Van Allen, both before, during and after the occasion of her birthday party.
He listened, with his deep eyes fixed on my face.
"Most extraordinary!" he said, at last, after I had finished. "I never heard of such daring! To enter her own house when it was watched by the police—"
"Only the post patrol, then," I reminded him. "She could easily manage between his rounds."
"Yes, yes, I know. But you've put the whole thing in different focus.
Tell me more."