“I always think,” he said, after a long silence, during which strange suspicions rushed through Clifford’s mind, “that it is better not to stir up scandals that are past and done with. I may have my own suspicions that the annoyance we suffer from is connected with the uncanny stories we have heard so much about. But still I will not interfere, and I refuse to call in the aid of the police. We must not forget that in delivering up this unknown person who annoys us, we might be exposing others to danger.”
“What others, papa?” asked Miss Theodora quickly.
But the Colonel would not answer. He turned the conversation to another subject, and the interesting topic was not again touched upon until Clifford, having taken leave of the Colonel, stood in the hall with Miss Theodora.
“Do you know why I came down here to-day?” he then asked.
“Not to see us?” asked Miss Theodora. “We could hardly have hoped for that.”
“It was to see you and to thank you for your trust in Nell. I met Miss Lansdowne in town one evening, and she told me you were the one person who still believed in her innocence.”
But, to his chagrin, the little lady sighed and looked down. At last she said:
“I did hold out as long as I could against the thought of her guilt, Mr. King; but I must confess that I, too, have had to give way to overwhelming evidence. In face of some fresh circumstances which have now come to my knowledge, I don’t see how I can escape the conclusion that she did commit these crimes.”
Clifford drew himself up with a great shock of disappointment. Here, where he expected a fortress, he found a quagmire.
“In fact, it is because my father feels sure that the person who comes here to annoy us is the very same creature who instigated the girl to commit these crimes, that he refuses to give information to the police.”