The question did not surprise him, nor did he attempt to evade it.
"Between twelve and one o'clock, the day before yesterday."
"Will you tell me where you were at eleven o'clock that day?"
"Yes, if you ask me."
"I do ask you."
"I was in a certain business building in New Orleans, as near to you as I am now. Is that sufficiently definite?"
"It is. I thought perhaps—I had hoped—Oh, for goodness' sake, why did you do it?" she burst out, no longer able to fence with the weapons of indirectness.
He answered her frankly.
"It was the old story of one man's over-plenty and another man's need. Have you ever known what it means to go hungry for sheer poverty's sake?—but, of course, you haven't."
"No," she admitted.