At last I secured a grip upon myself, and I addressed her with decision.
"You believe I will do what is right, do you not?"
"Yes," she murmured, without looking up.
"Then I fear that our pact is to be short-lived, after all. This cursed tragedy is twining its tentacles nearer home than either of us dreamt of."
What, in the bitterness of my own reflections, was I allowing myself to say! I silently cursed myself for a blundering fool. The girl's gray face, the pinched look of it, frightened me. I started from my chair.
"Miss Cooper!"
For her head had dropped forward upon one curved arm, and she was shaken by a storm of tears.