His silence only alarmed her the more.
"It must be something serious," she exclaimed, "or you would tell me. What did those dreadful men want of me?" Peremptorily she said: "I wish you to tell me. I appeal to your honor as a man."
No longer able to restrain himself, Tod burst out:
"Pardon me if I express myself too emphatically, Miss Marsh, but I just can't keep it in any longer. You are the victim of as damnable a plot as was ever hatched outside of Hell! Your uncle, desperate at the nearness of your attaining your majority, wants to put you in a place where you will be powerless to interfere with his plans. Alleging that you are highly excitable and not responsible for your actions, they have secured from the Court an order committing you to the Tocquencke Asylum."
"Not that—my God! Not that!"
The young girl turned white as death, and with an exclamation of horror collapsed onto the seat. Her entire body trembled like a leaf.
"What have I done," she moaned, "that I should be persecuted in this way?" Looking up at her companion, her eyes filled with tears, she demanded: "Is it possible that they have the right—does the law give my uncle this power over me?"
He nodded affirmatively.
"Unfortunately it does," he replied. "The law is all wrong, but it's the law. All your uncle has to do is to secure the affidavit of two physicians that you are insane. You may be perfectly sane, but if it pleases these physicians to conclude otherwise you can be committed to an asylum."
"Then no one is safe!" cried the girl. "Any relative wishing, for reasons of his own, to get you out of the way could bribe two unscrupulous physicians and deprive you of your liberty!"