Muriel’s eyes sparkled, but she answered calmly:
“Yes, I went to see him; but you’re evading the point. What reason could you have had for trying to injure an innocent man?”
Gertrude made an uneasy movement.
“Aren’t you taking too much for granted? To begin with, his innocence is very doubtful.”
“Yet, I think you must have been convinced of it. That he told you why he was going proves that you were on friendly terms, which would have been impossible if you had thought him guilty. What has made you change?”
The girl’s voice was stingingly scornful. It looked as if she suspected something, and Gertrude broke into a cold smile.
“Oh,” she said, “the man is clever; he has a way of creeping into one’s confidence. He appears to have had no trouble in gaining yours. After all, however, if my father is right, I have a duty to my brother’s memory.”
“Your father is so possessed and carried away by an idea that one can almost forgive him his injustice and cruelty. You have not the same excuse!”
Gertrude turned toward her with a formal manner.
“I think you have gone far enough. Do you intend to tell the others what you have said to me?”