“Tell me, what impression of her have you brought away?”
“I hardly know whether she allowed me to form one. Our communication seemed so indirect. She kept her face in the shadow all the time; I could not discern a feature.”
“Surely you were able to gather some sort of general idea?”
“That is the strange thing—I seem to have formed no opinion about her. One would not have thought it conceivable that one should have conversed with a person, dealt at least in an actual exchange of words at close quarters, and that they should remain so null. I think I should have been better acquainted with her had I not seen her at all.”
“Come, my dear fellow, you can surely recall a word or two of what she said? She is an enigma; and she is said not to have spoken six words since she was first remanded in custody.”
“That certainly makes the volubility in which she indulged this afternoon the more astonishing.”
“Indeed it does. Would you say that she expects an acquittal?”
“Well, now you come to mention that, I would say she does.”
“It is an extraordinary thing that they are all so sanguine. It hardly ever seems to occur to any of them that by any possibility they can meet with their deserts. Indeed, one might say the bigger the criminal, the greater their confidence that they will escape.”
“I am going to ask you what opinion you have formed of her,” said Northcote.