“But who else could have told the man?” Hal went on. “No one but you and Val, apparently, knew of it and we have been betrayed. You can’t expect me to think Val betrayed himself.”
“There was one other who knew,” Tracy cut in, sharply. “I told April, like a fool!”
“Do you think I would have told?” April demanded with blazing eyes. “I would have died first.”
“April is loyal to the core!” Hal defended his sister.
“I don’t think she would tell,” Tracy agreed, “but I don’t think Dorothea would either.”
“Thank you, Val,” Dorothea said, softly. She did not care what the others thought at that moment.
“But what other motive could she have had for meeting him?” April persisted.
“To help the man, if she’s the Red String you say she is,” Hal put in quickly. “Did you go to help him, Dorothea?” he questioned her directly.
“Yes, that’s just what I did,” she answered, “but I am not a Red String any more than I am a traitor!”
April shrugged her shoulders. It was so entirely evident that she was, or had been, in communication with their enemies that it seemed as if Dorothea could not be telling the truth. She had admitted knowledge of an undertaking so secret that but a few knew of it. And now it had failed, and everything pointed to Dorothea as the one responsible for the failure. As to Lee Hendon, he was, apparently, now an avowed enemy and, as such, even she could not take exception to his action.