“That is his own fault.”
“Did you want him to misunderstand the situation?”
“Apparently, Tib; but don’t ask so many questions. Let him proceed on the assumption that the robbery was committed in that fifteen minutes. If any innocent person is apparently implicated, I will confess. Meantime, you are shocked to find that I am delaying the course of justice in order to keep suspicion from myself.”
“A thousand times no; you could never act a lie unless it was to shield some one else. Was it to shield Milly, and how?”
“Tib, it breaks my heart—I can’t tell you—I love her so—I love her—”
A great fear came over me; Milly had taken the money and Winnie knew it. But Milly had lost all her money, and yet that was a very transparent subterfuge. What more natural than that the thief would pretend to be an innocent sufferer and steal from herself? And Milly knew before she looked that there was nothing in her purse. I asked relentlessly, “Was Milly at the safe during the night at some time earlier than you and Cynthia?”
“Milly will not admit that she was,” Winnie replied, her manner hardening as she realized that she had not quite disclosed her secret, and her determination to guard it returning with redoubled force.
“Then why do you suspect it?”
“I do not suspect it.”
The fixed despair in her eyes added the words, “I know it,” as plainly as if she had spoken them.