THE BURFORD STREET MURDER
EXTRAORDINARY EVIDENCE
There was no need for him to wonder what that evidence was: he knew before he began to read. The prominence given by the paper to the case was a proof of the excitement the inquiry had aroused in the public mind. At last he forced himself to read. Every word rose before his eyes as vividly as though it had been traced in letters of fire. Set down in cold print, the affair presented a very sinister aspect, so far as he was concerned. Every portion of the evidence seemed to point to himself as being the man who had committed the dastardly deed. He could well imagine what the feeling of independent persons would be who read it, and how readily they would arrive at a conclusion unfavourable to himself. He had just perused it for the second time, when he was startled by a faint tap upon the door.
“Come in,” he cried, and in response Molly entered the room.
“I have been looking for you,” she said, with the parody of a smile upon her face.
“I should have come in search of you in a few moments,” he replied. “The fact is, I have had certain things to do which could not very well be left undone. Will you forgive me, dear?”
“Of course I will,” she answered. “It is impossible for you to be always with me, and yet I am selfish enough to grudge you the time you spend upon anything else.”
He was quick-witted enough to see that what she said was only an attempt to gain time. She, on her side, knew that he stood in need of comfort, and she had come to give it to him.