"Were you ever in danger?"
"Oh, many times," she said indifferently. "Who was not?"
"Was that what broke your cousin down?"
"That and the hard work in Vienna trying to relieve the distress—while half-starved herself. Of course we had almost no money until the United States Government restored our properties."
"Will she join you here when she is well?"
"No, Mary Zattiany will never be seen again."
"Ah? As bad as that? Her friends will be distressed. I understand they saw her abroad from time to time before the war—particularly Mrs. Oglethorpe. That old set is very loyal."
"Loyal! Oh, yes. They are loyal. Mrs. Oglethorpe was ready to give me over to the police. She seemed to think that I had murdered Mary—no doubt during the revolution, when it would have been quite easy. And she seemed to resent quite bitterly my resemblance to Mary in her youth—as if I had committed a theft."
"Probably it made her feel her age. I wonder you saw her."
"I was coming down the stairs as she crossed the hall. Be sure I would not have seen her if I could have avoided it."