‘And was she fond of him?’
‘Yes—I think so’—the same reluctance showing itself.
‘Did she show her partiality?’
‘Sometimes.’
‘Maggie wasn’t considered to be very stanch to anyone, was she?’
‘Well, she’d a good many admirers. She was an awful good-looking lass, you see. And lads will always run after a pretty girl.’
‘That scarcely answers my question, captain,’ I said. ‘I want to know if she openly—that is, before others—showed that she liked Balfour better than any other body?’
‘You see, Mr. Brodie, I’m not altogether competent to answer that,’ said the skipper, as though he was anxious to shirk the question.
‘But did she do so on the New Year’s Eve, when you were all so jovial?’
‘Yes.’