“What I hid from you rather than repeat.”
“But repeat what?”
Her face still turned from him, she answered:
“Something, my—something Mr. Ogston sent me.”
“Mr. Ogston!” Verplank exclaimed. The formality of the statement astounded him. “Do you mean your father? What did he send you?”
But Leilah would not or could not speak. Her mouth contracted as though she were choking, and she put a hand to her throat.
“Tell me,” he insisted.
She turned, and beseechingly she looked at him.
“Gulian, I cannot.”
At that Verplank moved nearer, and so dominatingly that again she extended her hands.