“Oh, yes, sir,” answered Alma, shuddering.
“How much do you know?”
“As much as has been made public through the coroner’s inquest.”
“And that—is nothing—worse than nothing, since it is a tissue of false deductions! What opinion have you formed from the facts elicited by the coroner’s inquest?”
“Sir, I can not form any.”
“What do you think of the guilt or innocence of the accused girl, Eudora Leaton?”
“Oh, sir, I dare not think of that at all, the subject is so painful to me—”
“You think her guilty then?”
“I would to Heaven that I could believe her innocent, for I loved her. Oh, my father, she always looked kindly toward me, and in my loneliness I loved her,” said Alma, in a broken voice.
“Believe her innocent, then, for she is so,” said Hollis Elverton, with solemn earnestness.