"Would you mind—explaining?" he asked quietly. He didn't need any support now, but stood with head well back, a steady gleam in his look. "What you—know?"

"I know—you are a thief!" She spoke the Words fiercely.

His face twitched. "How do you know?"

"By the kind of evidence I can believe."

"And that?" he said in the same quiet voice.

"The evidence of my own eyes!"

He was still, as if thinking. He looked down; then away.

"Why don't you protest?" she demanded.

"Protest," he repeated.

"Or ask me to explain further—"